PVC | MARKETS
The Chemical Fabrics and Film Association’s
(CFFA) Vinyl Roofing Division received a grant to help fund a pilot program to increase PVC roof membrane recycling. While recycling of PVC roof membrane has been practised by the US industry for the past 20 years, it has been limited to only a few producers and large building owners, says CFFA. Recycling coordinators funded by the grant set an objective to expand recycling through several facets by informing contractors, roof consultants, and large building owners about the process to recycle PVC roof membranes and its benefits, and by further developing the recycler network and capabilities.
Vinyl siding The US Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) received a Viability grant from the VI in both rounds of funding for its Revinylize Recycling Collaborative, which seeks to efficiently grow the recycling of PCR rigid vinyl products. VSI ran two small-scale pilot programs in 2021 and 2022 that collected residen- tial vinyl siding, and in 2023 a scaled-up program collected more than 500,000 lbs. VSI hopes that this next-generation program can be adapted throughout the US. “We have an opportunity to collect large volumes of siding from remodeling projects, as the vinyl siding that was installed beginning in the 1950s and ’60s is reaching its end-of-life,” says Matt Dobson, Vice-President of VSI. He says that the biggest barrier to post-consumer recycling is getting value-chain participants to build the infrastructure needed to make it happen. The collaborative’s new website (see link at end
of this article) aims to help bring this barrier down and build momentum by growing membership in the program, which will bring together recyclers, those who can serve as collection sites and other interested supporters. The website also provides a way for consumers, contractors, and construction
Viability grant awardee, Kelly Green Board, is working on a roofing product that will use PCR material. It plans to further develop a 50% post-consumer roofing membrane and a material containing 50% post-consumer carton packaging that can be used in a new roofing system
demolition companies to find recycling collection points, which will increase as the program expands. Although the program began with siding, Dobson says that all rigid PVC, including windows, decking, railing, and piping, can be collected and recycled together for use in the base or core layer in new rigid PVC products. “We want to get everyone involved and make this happen on a massive scale. We will be stronger together,” Dobson says.
PCR flexibles Although rigid PVC and flexible PVC are both called ‘vinyl’, they are different materials with different formulations and cannot be recycled together. Opportunities for recycling PCR flexible PVC, however, are also growing. A recycler and manufacturer of flexible films for
a range of applications, i2M based in Pennsylvania, US, was awarded 2023 Recycler of the Year by the Vinyl Sustainability Council for its program to
IMAGE: KELLY GREEN BOARD
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