Vinyl 2010 showcased its new sustainable development based educational computer game at the European Commission's Green Week held in Brussels from 3-6 June.
At the beginning of May, for the third consecutive year, Vinyl 2010 participated in the UN Partnerships Fair, which is part of the annual Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16) in New York
The 6th and 7th May saw representatives from across the PVC industry convening for the General Assemblies of the ECVM
(European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers)and Vinyl 2010 (the European PVC industry’s 10 year voluntary commitment for sustainable development) at the Majestic Hotel in Barcelona.
Vinyl 2010 is a substantial commitment by the PVC industry and faces many practical, short term and long term challenges:
A victim of success?
PVC waste is becoming a progressively more valuable commodity. Rising oil prices - and therefore prices for virgin PVC - as well as vigorous economic growth in the Far East are combining to make ‘end-of-life' PVC applications increasingly valuable for direct re-use.
Are our products lasting even longer than expected?
We believe that certain PVC products - pipes for example - may be lasting even longer in service than we had expected. This in turn means that less waste may be available for collection and recycling.
Accessing old products
A practical difficulty that will only be surmounted by sustained effort is to access PVC products, often sold long ago, at the time of their end-of-life, so that they can be made available for collection and recycling. This often poses serious logistical challenges to Vinyl 2010 in pursuit of its recycling targets.
Scepticism versus dialogue
Vinyl 2010 is about openness and dialogue with all interested parties. Some stakeholders have been very critical of PVC, which they hold responsible for environmental and other problems. We would like to work more closely with these parties, especially through our independent Monitoring Committee, to understand their fears and look together for solutions.
