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The organisation Print

Vinyl 2010 is the legal entity set up to provide the organisational and financial infrastructure to manage and monitor the implementation of the Voluntary Commitment of the European PVC Industry. This is a 10-year plan to put the PVC industry at the forefront of sustainability by minimising the environmental impact of the PVC production, promoting responsible use of additives, supporting collection and recycling schemes, and encouraging social dialogue between all of the industry's stakeholders.

Vinyl 2010 pays particular attention to constructive social dialogue and has regular consultations with the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation to discuss workplace health, safety and training issues. Vinyl 2010 is also working with new EU members to raise health, safety and environmental standards to higher levels throughout the enlarged EU.

Since October 2004, Vinyl 2010 has been a registered Partnership with the Secretariat of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Highlights of our approach

  • Innovative policy across the whole life cycle - Vinyl 2010 is (to our knowledge) the only Voluntary Commitment of a single industry in the world involving the entire upstream and downstream chain - from raw-material production to post-consumer waste.
  • Transparency - Vinyl 2010 closely involves stakeholders and policy makers, through an independent Monitoring Committee, in the implementation of the Voluntary Commitment. The Committee currently includes representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission, trade unions and consumer associations.
  • We are actively involving SMEs - With its 21,000 companies, Vinyl 2010 is a model for Corporate Governance aimed at Sustainable Development and Consumption across an entire industry.
  • EU enlargement - Originally signed in March 2000 and covering the EU-15, the Voluntary Commitment has since been expanded as the EU has enlarged and now covers all EU-27 countries.
  • Promoting sustainable development and encouraging dialogue with stakeholders - Through initiatives like our Sustainable Development Essay Competitions, Vinyl 2010 engages young people in Europe and worldwide on the issues surrounding this very topical subject.
  • Challenging, concrete commitments - These are presented on a yearly basis to stakeholders through the publication of our Progress Report. Vinyl 2010 means:
    ► Reduction of the environmental impact of PVC manufacturing
    ► Responsible use of chemicals (plasticisers and stabilisers)
    ► Commitments on waste management (from recycling to ultimate isposal) with projects covering technology, research, organisation (collection and recycling schemes) and communication (best practice)
    ► Project funding of €6.64 million in 2010 and considerably greater allocation in terms of time and effort; a total expenditure of more than €57.55 million over the past ten years.

Over the years, Vinyl 2010 has developed additional specialist complementary organisations to increase its effectiveness in being able to achieve its demanding targets. One such organisation is Recovinyl, which was set up in 2003 to facilitate the development of PVC waste collection and recycling schemes. Recovinyl employs financial incentives to motivate existing players in the waste management industry to develop their PVC recycling activities.

Another example is the Vinyl Foundation, a not-for-profit, independently-managed trust set up by EuPC in 2007. The Vinyl Foundation's purpose is to operate a mechanism for the more efficient collection of funding contributions from the PVC converting sector, including companies who are not members of trade associations.

 
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