VinylPlus in direct dialogue with Danish stakeholders
On Thursday 17 September 2015, a roundtable on how PVC can contribute to sustainable development and circular economy was held in Copenhagen.
The day-long roundtable meeting, which had participation from a number of expert Danish stakeholders, was arranged by the European PVC value chain’s sustainability programme VinylPlus.
The purpose of the roundtable was to involve external stakeholders in discussing central issues related to the waste management of the many different PVC applications in our society.
The diverse group of stakeholders – all involved in environmental and sustainability issues – included representatives from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Copenhagen, leading Scandinavian construction companies, environmental NGO’s, academics and the waste sector.
The roundtable facilitator in Copenhagen was The Natural Step, a Swedish sustainability development organisation which acts as a sustainability advisor for VinylPlus.
The wide-ranging stakeholder conversation touched upon many different aspects related to PVC: from recycling of old PVC waste containing phased-out substances, over new business models where the consumer for instance leases products instead of owning them, to intelligent design of applications suitable for recycling. High on the stakeholders’ agenda was also how progressive European environmental legislation and industry achievements can become global.
Brigitte Dero, General Manager of VinylPlus, expressed appreciation for the willingness of Danish stakeholders to engage in direct dialogue with representatives from the European PVC industry: “The roundtable showed us that although we have come a long way with substitution and recycling, there are additional concerns expressed by stakeholders which we need to address. We will now digest the valuable inputs from the roundtable participants and see how they can help us further develop and improve the VinylPlus programme.”
