Progress Report 2024: Pathway 1

#Circular Economy

SCALING UP PVC VALUE CHAIN CIRCULARITY

In line with the relevant EU policies, such as the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the Circular Economy Action Plan under the European Green Deal, VinylPlus is leading the European PVC industry towards a circular economy, by improving the sustainability performance of PVC, boosting recycling and ensuring the safe and sustainable use of recyclates.

1 SCALING UP PVC VALUE CHAIN CIRCULARITY

VinylPlus is committed to recycling at least 900,000 tonnes per year of PVC waste into new products by 2025 and 1 million tonnes by 2030.

The objective is to transform PVC waste into a high-quality, safe and valued resource, contributing in particular to SDG12 – sustainable consumption and production – of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. In 2023, 737,645 tonnes of PVC were recycled and used in new products. Since 2000, 8.8 million tonnes of PVC have been recycled, saving 17.6 million tonnes of CO2 and contributing to 1.500+ direct jobs in European recycling plants.

OUR RECYCLING ACHIEVEMENTS

R&D and innovation focus

Since research and innovation play a critical role in achieving circularity targets, VinylPlus is concentrating its efforts and resources to support technical projects, R&D and innovation in three main areas:

IMPROVE

existing collection and recycling schemes and set up new ones for additional PVC streams

SUPPORT

existing collection and recycling schemes and set up new ones for additional PVC streams

INVESTIGATE

solutions to detect, sort and remove legacy additives from end-of-life PVC products

Difficult market conditions for plastics recycling

The amount of PVC waste recycled represented around 24.3% of the total PVC waste generated in 2023 in the EU-27, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. Unrelated to industry’s best efforts, recycled PVC volumes decreased due to several factors: the persistent competitive prices of virgin material, including low-priced imports, the current economic downturn in the building and construction (B&C) sector and the impacts of European regulations on legacy additives. In 2023, recycling and converting activity declined overall in Europe – and not just in the PVC sector.

This applied both to pre-consumer recycling, where lower industrial production reduced the amount of waste available, and to post-consumer recycling, which was significantly affected by a decline in the construction industry. Flooring and pipes sectors registered the most consistent decline, particularly in pre-consumer waste recycling. Demand for recycled PVC (rPVC) decreased compared to previous year (- 12.5%), confirming the trend started in the last quarter of 2022, which was possibly also due to extremely high energy costs. The registered uptake of rPVC from converters was 469,916 tonnes in 2023, a 16.4% decrease compared to 2022.

SHARE OF RECYCLED PVC

  • Post-consumer waste 38.3% 38.3%
  • Pre-consumer waste 61.7% 61.7%
usage of recycled pvc in 2023

TRACKING PROGRESS AND DATA COLLECTION

Recovinyl® monitors, verifies and reports European PVC recycling and the use of recycled PVC in Europe. The Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) has recognised the Recovinyl® audit framework as one of the approved auditing systems and schemes to ensure that collected data comply with the CPA Audit Framework.

In an era where monitoring polymer circularity has become increasingly crucial, particularly in the context of initiatives like the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA), VinylPlus and Recovinyl® have played a leading role in founding PolyREC® in 2021.

 

This organisation brings together major players across the polymer value chain, recyclers, and Plastics Europe to collaborate on monitoring, verifying, and reporting plastics recycling and uptake data in Europe. It has since evolved into a multipolymer data collection platform to help the European plastics industry fulfil its commitment to use 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics in new products in Europe by 2025.

PolyREC® utilises a common data collection system, RecoTrace,® which was originally developed for PVC and now extended to cover all main polymers. While Recovinyl® retains ownership of RecoTrace,® PolyREC® has been granted a 10-year free license to utilise the platform.

Input and output of plastics waste

In 2021, 301 plants, located in 23 European countries recorded their recycling and recycled plastics use in RecoTrace® as follows:

recotrace input

Recycling: Around 1.6 million tonnes of plastics waste were reported to RecoTrace® as net input to European recyclers. PVC waste was the most represented in the reported quantities, at about 49.8%, followed by polyolefins. European recyclers reported output of around 1.4 million tonnes of recycled plastics. PVC was the most represented (54.1%) recycled polymer, followed by polyolefins.

Conversion of recycled plastics into new products: Participating companies reported an output of 571,800 tonnes, mostly PVC (80.3%). Building and construction applications represented about 60% of the reported quantities, and packaging 12.5%.

EVALUATING OPPORTUNITIES TO ACHIEVE HIGHER RECYCLING RATES OF POST-CONSUMER PVC WASTE IN EUROPE

In 2023, the VinylPlus Circular Vinyls Committee analysed applications, projects and initiatives with a view to increasing end-of-life PVC recycling and defined a strategic action plan for the coming years. Proposed action areas focus on achieving full traceability of rPVC, stimulating the use of rPVC in new products and increasing the Recovinyl® network through the involvement of new PVC recyclers and converters in the reporting system via Recovinyl® Regional Representatives and national and sectoral associations.

Other actions include the development of additional collection schemes, the enhancement of chemical and mechanical recycling capacity and focussing on how to support industry investment in the development of technologies for sorting and legacy additives extraction. To exploit all the possible opportunities to achieve higher recycling rates for postconsumer PVC waste in Europe, VinylPlus continues to support innovative projects to improve the existing collection and recycling of specific PVC applications, set up additional collection and recycling schemes where appropriate and increase the use of recycled PVC in new products.

IMPROVING COLLECTION AND RECYCLING

As reported in previous years’ Progress Reports, the European Trade Association of PVC Window System Suppliers (EPPA)  is implementing a five-year action plan developed in 2020 that aims to increase the amount of post-consumer windows recycled and the use of rPVC-U (unplasticised recycled PVC). The plan focuses on France, Poland, and Germany.

In France, the EPPA partner UFME continued actively to promote recycling in the window sector. It expanded to 137 (a 50% increase from 2022) the number of signatories to its label FERVAM (Filière Engagée pour le Recyclage et la Valorisation des Menuiseries), which values best practices in the recycling of windows. Through its participation in VALOBAT, UFME is committed to supporting the doors and windows sector in waste management. Throughout 2023, EPPA supported the progressive consolidation of the reporting of rPVC volumes generated and used in France in the RecoTrace® system for all FERVAM signatories.

In Poland, participation in the BUDMA 2023 exhibition held in Poznań reinforced the presence of EPPA in the Polish market. At BUDMA, EPPA organised a conference entitled Window Profiles with PVC and Their Value Chain: Key to Climate Protection and Business Development. In May 2023, EPPA launched the OKNOREC PVC window collection and recycling project. The initiative aims to raise awareness of the recyclability of old PVC profiles from windows. The project’s primary focus is to enhance collection processes for PVC profiles, to ensure their proper recycling and minimise waste. The OKNOREC project aligns with EPPA’s overarching goals within the framework of the VinylPlus 2030 Commitment. Several initiatives are already ongoing, such as webinars and training courses for window manufacturers, distributors and window installation companies, as well as informative and promotional media campaigns.

In Germany, the consolidated partnership with Rewindo focused on communications and advocacy initiatives, such as a meeting with members of the Bundestag in spring 2023. It also included networking initiatives, such as visits to craft fairs and recycling centres to gain further contacts in the target groups and exchange cases of best practice. Studies are currently underway to evaluate the reductions in energy and CO2 consumption achieved through recycling. The Rewindo network continued to expand in 2023 with the addition of companies active in glass, fittings and reinforcement. More candidates from the value chain were ready to join in 2024.

In 2023, the European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association’s (TEPPFA) German member KRV concluded a mass flow analysis (MFA) in Germany and a similar study is ongoing in the Netherlands. Further MFA studies are likely to be progressively rolled out by TEPPFA in priority European countries, starting with the UK in 2024. Through the mass flow analyses, TEPPFA aims to find out the potential non-collected volume. They are expected to set the baseline for future pilot collection, sorting and recycling projects of end-of-life plastic pipes at the national levels from 2025 onwards.

In 2023, TEPPFA also continued a project aiming to open non-pressure product standards up for an increased use of recycled content without compromising on quality, performance and longevity.

In Germany, the European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers Institute (ERFMI) started a pilot project within the Revinylfloor initiative in 2022, aiming to increase the collection of PVC floor coverings from scraps and end-of-life products. The pilot project is supported by VinylPlus as a Technical Project and involved two wholesalers, Lotter + Liebherr and Laminat Depot, which set up collection centres in some of their locations. By the end of 2023, 65 tonnes of post-consumer flooring were collected, 10% of which consisted of offcuts from the installation process. The collected materials were processed into fine regrind PVC at the AgPR recycling plant in Troisdorf, Germany, and then sold. This initiative was a success, with a greater volume of PVC collected than expected at Lotter + Liebherr’s Bonn location, so the company decided to extend this best practice to its locations in Frankfurt and Essen. ERMFI’s objective now is to broaden this initiative to gather additional insights and perform a comprehensive cost analysis, while evaluating the current wholesalers’ branch infrastructure.

To obtain a better quality of PVC waste, ERFMI commissioned additional tests in 2023 to sort flooring containing legacy low-molecular-weight (LMW) plasticisers from flooring that does not, using the near-infrared sensor technology provided by Steinert. Preliminary tests showed a concentration of orthophthalate content close to zero after sorting. Further tests were planned in 2024 to confirm the results.

In parallel, ERFMI and its members have worked with the consultancy Oakdene Hollins to assess the feasibility of implementing a sorting and recycling process on a commercial scale utilising the technologies explored by ERFMI within the Revinylfloor project. This work also included making realistic high-level projections of the levels of investment needed, the associated costs, the expected levels of revenue and the potential payback.

In Italy, WREP (Waste REcycling Project) is continuing to promote the development of pilot schemes for sorting, collecting and recycling PVC from bulky urban waste in collaboration with multiutilities and recyclers. In 2023, the number of partners involved in the operational phase increased to six recyclers and 13 multiutilities, and growing interest was recorded from potential partners in many Italian regions.

In 2023, the project was also extended to the collection of post-consumer PVC products from demolition and renovation activities with the signature of three Memoranda of Understanding with ANCE Verona (National Association of Building Constructors), ANCE Padova and CNA Veneto (National Crafts Confederation). These aim to implement a system for the collection, selection, treatment and recycling of waste from windows, shutters, pipes and other PVC products, coming from both production activities and the collection of separated urban demolition and installation waste.

A handheld device to sort PVC from other plastics in post-consumer waste was tested further in 2023. Developed by Phoenix RTO, the detector uses nearinfrared hyperspectral technology (NIR). It helped to reduce the percentage of impurities in collected PVC from an average of 3% to less than 1%.

In 2023, Phoenix was asked to carry out further feasibility studies based on scanning equipment that is already used to manage electric and electronic waste. One study aims to develop a handheld scanner that detects the presence of lead (Pb) in PVC cables. Another is targeting a system that separates ground cables that contain lead from those that do not. Tests conducted by Phoenix showed that the most effective technology that could currently be applied to the detection of lead in PVC products to be recycled is XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy) technology.

In Germany, VinylPlus Deutschland continued its successful PVC Recyclers Meet PVC Converters event series in 2023 in collaboration with Rewindo, AgPR and IVK Europe. The project aims to raise awareness of existing PVC recycling activities and boost rPVC uptake by reaching out to demolition experts, recyclers, converters and recycling experts from the entire PVC value chain. Activities included two on-site events – one at the Forbo Novilon BV plant in the Netherlands and the other in Bad Dürkheim, Germany in partnership with BASF. The events involved more than 70 delegates.

VinylPlus Deutschland also participated in ‘Fachtagung Abbruch’, Europe’s major conference on demolition and dismantling with over 1,200 attendees in 2023, which was held in Berlin. The events were excellent occasions for the exchange of information and views over several topics relevant to recycling: the opportunities and limitations of mechanical recycling, including legal aspects; the need for new mechanical recycling solutions that replace waste incineration (with energy recovery); the need for other recovery options that contribute to recycling targets; and the future role of other recovery technologies, such as chemical recycling.

In France, the law on the fight against waste and on the circular economy, known as the AGEC law, required the establishment of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for building and construction products from the 1st of January 2022. This EPR aims at organising collection, sorting, reuse and recycling of building and construction products at a national scale under the umbrella of Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs).

In 2023, VinylPlus France actively followed the implementation of the French EPR, and, via Kaléi and SNEP, two national associations in charge respectively of flexible and rigid PVC building applications, joined the PROs coordination body OCA Bâtiment to ensure that:

  • Waste collection guidelines are developed PVC waste recyclability is considered
  • Individual producers’ collection and recycling systems are supported
  • Research projects for plastics sorting and separating legacy additives from soft PVC waste are launched

The operational activities for collection started in May 2023. In 2024, VinylPlus France and its local partners will continue to actively participate in the EPR implementation, sharing all their experience on collection and recycling of PVC products.

ADVANCING CIRCULARITY IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR

VinylPlusMed logo

VinylPlus® Med was initiated in 2021 to accelerate circularity in healthcare across Europe through the recycling of discarded single-use PVC medical devices. The objective was to demonstrate that PVC waste from medical devices can be turned into REACH-compliant high-quality recyclates through energy-efficient and environmentfriendly processes and then reused by European PVC converters to make durable products for healthcare settings.

VinylPlus® Med started as a pilot project in Belgium in partnership with the waste management company Renewi and the recycler Raff Plastics.

 

In 2023, it extended its base to 29 hospital sites (an increase of 19 sites from 2022) and collected around 3,500 kg of PVC waste, equivalent to around 87,500 face masks. Two additional waste storage spaces were made available by Renewi in Belgium, in Brugge and in Mol. Progress made in 2023 also confirmed that it is possible to expand the collection of PVC medical devices to several departments in hospitals: CHU St Pierre, in Brussels, was the first hospital to extend PVC waste collection to all its departments. VinylPlus® Med has now been recognized as a best practice by several publications in the Belgian healthcare sector.

A study carried out by LCA experts of EcovaMed showed that the cradleto- grave GHG emissions of a medical PVC tubing can be cut by 25% through recycling instead of incineration with energy recovery. VinylPlus® Med’s results have exceeded expectations. The project not only promotes a new collection and recycling scheme for PVC medical devices, but it has also opened the way for collaborations with other medical recycling schemes and new partnership projects.

 

The VinylPlus® PharmPack project run by VinylPlus Deutschland intends to demonstrate the recyclability and sustainability of pharma blisters made of aluminium and PVC in the context of the European Packaging Directive 94/62/EG and national laws. The project was developed in partnership with Perlen Packaging, Liveo Research, Hundhausen Kunststofftechnik and Neidhardt Rohstoff.

Several small-scale tests for the separation of PVC from aluminium were successfully carried out by Fraunhofer IVV. Laboratory tests carried out on the produced recyclates at Perlen Packaging and Liveo Research yielded promising results. Larger-scale trials were scheduled to take place in 2024 at Fraunhofer IVV, following the installation of a dedicated pilot plant. The rPVC produced in the pilot plant will then be further tested by Perlen and Liveo to verify whether the quality obtained is suitable for use in new products. Discover more about the project in the interviews below:

2 FOSTERING SCIENCE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR THE SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF ADDITIVES

The VinylPlus commitment to circularity implies providing solid evidence to demonstrate the safe use of additives and of PVC articles containing recyclates with legacy additives. It also involves support for participation in R&D projects that detect, sort, reduce or remove legacy additives in PVC waste streams.

SIMONE DOYLE
Head of Risk Management Unit, European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

The investigation on PVC and its additives represents the first case of such an exercise from ECHA. The innovative approach we used for PVC can be re-purposed in the near future for other assessments seeking to explore the whole lifecycle and circularity of products.

Having available alternatives is not enough. They need to be safer, technically feasible and economically viable. ECHA will increasingly deploy a grouping approach for substances in order to avoid regrettable substitution.

Thank you to each and every one of you from the PVC industry for participating in the Calls for Evidence within the framework of the Investigation Report. ECHA privileges a fact-based approach and hence greatly appreciates external input.

VINYLPLUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ECHA INVESTIGATION ON PVC & PVC ADDITIVES

In addition to progressing toward the targets set in its Commitment under the three pathways, VinylPlus strives to provide regulators with data and evidence for supporting risk management of PVC where appropriate. In 2023, an important development took place with the publication of the ECHA Investigation report on PVC and PVC additives.

In 2022, the European Commission asked ECHA to carry out an investigation on PVC and PVC additives and to present the results in a report. The investigation took place from May 2022 to November 2023. In this period, VinylPlus responded to three Calls for Evidence and two questionnaires. To address these requests for information, VinylPlus, together with its members and partner companies, sectoral and national associations, collaborated extensively with ECHA.

VinylPlus provided a large quantity of data, studies, research and reviews on PVC and its additives. ECHA published the final Investigation report on PVC and PVC additives in November 2023. The ECHA report highlights the clear progress made by the industry over more than 20 years: it shows that risks linked to the production of PVC are adequately controlled, several additives used in PVC do not present a risk, having substituted SVHC (substances of very high concern) additives, and PVC is being recycled across the EU.

In its report, ECHA points to potential risks and suggests potential regulatory action in four areas (for some specific plasticisers, heat stabilisers and flame retardants, as well as for microparticles emissions at recycling facilities and landfills). However, ECHA makes several assumptions where data is already under development or needs to be developed in order to confirm whether the assumption is accurate or not.

The evidence submitted by VinylPlus throughout the investigation process demonstrates the safety of PVC for  human health and the environment, and VinylPlus is firmly committed to  ontinue working with regulators to address data gaps. After a meticulous study of the ECHA investigation report and its annexes, VinylPlus published a response to the ECHA report.

3 SUPPORTING INNOVATIVE RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES

To accelerate towards circularity, VinylPlus is supporting the development of chemical recycling technologies capable of handling difficult PVC waste that cannot be mechanically recycled in an eco-efficient manner. It is also supporting the development of improved sorting and separation technologies for complex (e.g., composite) PVC products.

Some types of PVC waste (e.g., composites or waste contaminated by soil, glues or oils) are very difficult to recycle through standard mechanical recycling processes, as the costs and environmental impact currently exceed the economic and environmental benefits. These types of waste can nevertheless be recycled using emerging chemical recycling processes. In the case of PVC, both parts of the PVC molecule can be chemically recycled: the hydrocarbon part (43%) can be recycled using processes suitable for hydrocarbon polymers such as pyrolysis or gasification; the chlorine part (57%) can be recovered and used in the production of other raw materials and substances.

The recently published JRC Policy Reports, Environmental and economic assessment of plastic waste recycling and Towards a better definition and calculation of recycling, represent a good starting point for further discussion. In this regard, 20 associations in the plastics supply chain, including VinylPlus, co-signed an industry position paper that called on EU Member States to urgently adopt fuel-use-exempt mass balance as the EU harmonised mass balance method for allocating recycled content via chemical recycling.

31 DIFFERENT RECOVERY OPTIONS INVESTIGATED SINCE 2000

SORTING AND SEPARATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMPLEX PVC PRODUCTS

The EUPolySep project aims to set up a small pilot plant in Belgium to separate PVC from complex laminated products. The Australian PVC Separation (PVCS) technology was selected to be tested at pilot scale. This innovative process allows polymers to be delaminated and separated from polymer-composite structures for subsequent recycling. A pilot plant built in Australia was shipped to Belgium and installed at Centexbel (CTB) in Grâce Hollogne, Belgium, in June 2023. Following the installation, two separate start-up and commissioning engagements took place on site with an external engineering company. The pilot plant was made ready, and the first tests on composite PVC were scheduled to take place in the first semester of 2024.

RECOVERING AND RECYCLING CHLORINE FROM END-OF-LIFE PVC ARTICLES

VinylPlus® RecoChlor is a programme dedicated to the PVC waste treatment methodology to recover and recycle chlorine from difficult-to-recycle end-of-life PVC products. In the RecoChlor chemical recycling process, selected PVC wastes are thermally decomposed in modern waste-to-energy plants. These enable chlorine to be recovered either in the form of sodium chloride (RecoSalt, dry process) or as diluted hydrochloric acid (RecoAcid, wet process). The hydrocarbon part is used for energy recovery. Both RecoSalt and RecoAcid processes lead at the end to the production of new chemical substances that can be sold on the market.

In the RecoSalt process, the gaseous hydrochloric acid created by the thermal decomposition of PVC is neutralised by sodium bicarbonate (SOLVAir® process). The resulting sodium chloride is recovered, purified, and finally used in the production of new chemical substances (e.g., sodium carbonate). The recovery of sodium chloride from flue-gastreatment residues is recognized as recycling operation in the Best Available Techniques Reference Document for Waste Treatment.

The RecoAcid process is based on the FLUWA technology, which will be mandatory in Swiss municipal waste-to-energy plants from 2026. Its aim is to increase acid production in flue gas scrubbers, and then to use this generated acid to recover and recycle heavy metals contained in filter ashes. Municipal waste-to-energy plants do not generate enough raw acid from the treatment of household waste, and the supply gap must be covered either by technical grade hydrochloric acid bought on the market or by hydrochloric acid generated in-situ from residual, mechanically non recyclable PVC wastes.

Good progress was also registered by the HaloSep® process developed by Stena Metall in Denmark. HaloSep, which is part of the EU LIFE programme, has been proposed as a Best Available Technique (BAT) to the Nordic Council of Ministers. The process aims to recover chlorine in the form of salts from incineration waste residues. The main product is CaCl2 (calcium chloride). Additional benefits include the recycling of some metals such as zinc.

ASSESSING CHEMICAL
RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES

ChemRecPolymer, the multistakeholder project submitted to the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2022, could not be financed due to significant reductions in the annual budget for Federal subsidies. The project is currently suspended.

4 PRIORITISING CIRCULARITY THROUGH ECODESIGN

In the framework of the Circular Plastics Alliance, the European Commission issued Standardisation Request M/584 in 2022, which mandated the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) to develop a series of design-for-recycling (DfR) standards for plastic products.

In 2023, EPPA participated in the CEN Technical Committee 249 (Working Group 21 on Profiles for windows and doors), which is developing the European Design-for-recycling of PVC-based profiles in the construction sector Standard, scheduled to be finalised in 2024. At the same time, ERFMI participated in the CEN Technical Committee 134 (Working Group 10 on Resilient, textile, laminate and multilayer modular floor coverings), which is developing DfR guidelines for flooring.

On behalf of the PVC industry, EPPA also participated in the CEN Technical Committee 249 (Working Group 11 on Plastics Recycling), which will finalise the standardisation deliverable on rPVC characteristics (EN 15346). In June 2023, EPPA took over the chair position of the CEN/CENELEC coordination group ‘Circular Plastics,’ which is in charge of the development of design-for-recycling principles in major plastic-product sectors.

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Our AchievementsProgress Report 2024Progress Report 2024: Pathway 1