VinylPlus UK
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the only official UK partner of the VinylPlus development. As such, the BPF represents the UK VinylPlus members of the PVC industry to Government, customers and media. PVC faces specific issues in the market place and so representatives from forward-thinking PVC producers, converters, additives suppliers and recyclers finance this Group in a focused programme of activity.
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VinylPlus is the Voluntary Commitment to sustainable development by the European PVC industry. The programme was launched over 20 years ago and developed through dialogue with stakeholders including industry, NGOs, regulators, civil society representatives and PVC users. Five key challenges have been identified for PVC on the basis of The Natural Step System Conditions for a Sustainable Society. The regional scope of the programme is the EU-28 plus Norway and Switzerland.
The VinylPlus programme is committed to building awareness of the benefits of sustainability throughout the value chain and among stakeholders both inside and outside the industry.
VinylPlus represents the European PVC value chain and brings together businesses involved at all the different stages of the life cycle of PVC, from the production of virgin PVC, to manufacturers of PVC windows and countless other applications, and ultimately to recyclers.
VinylPlus' Membership Comprises 4 Associations:
- The European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM), representing the six leading European producers of PVC resin, which account for about 75% of EU production. These businesses operate around 40 plants spread over 23 sites, and employ 7,000 people. www.pvc.org.
- European Plastics Converters (EuPC), an association representing close to 50,000 companies, which produce over 45 million tonnes of plastic products every year. They employ approximately 1.3 million people. www.plasticsconverters.eu.
- The European Stabiliser Producers Association (ESPA), representing 10 companies that produce more than 95% of the stabilisers sold in Europe. They directly employ more than 2,000 people in the EU. www.stabilisers.eu.
- European Plasticisers, representing the eight major European producers of plasticisers and intermediates. They employ approximately 1,200 people. www.plasticisers.org.
Through the VinylPlus initiative, the European PVC industry aims to:
- Recycle at least 900,000 tonnes per year of PVC waste into new products by 2025 and 1 million tonnes by 2030
- Risk assess the transportation of major raw materials, in particular VCM
- Achieve a target of zero-accident rate with VCM release during transportation in the next ten years
- As a part of the VinylPlus programme, the European PVC industry has completely substituted cadmium (2001)
- Completed the replacement of lead-based stabilisers in the EU-28 by end 2015
- Work towards developing robust criteria for the 'sustainable use of additives',
- Wants to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as energy and resource consumption through the entire production chain, by optimizing production processes and by stimulating and facilitating recycling
- Resin producers to reduce their specific energy consumption, targeting 20% by 2020
- Build sustainability awareness along the PVC value chain and among stakeholders
The VinylPlus Voluntary Commitment was included in the Rio+20 Registry of Commitments in 2012. Since 2013, VinylPlus has been a member of the Green Industry Platform, the global high-level, multi-stakeholder partnership led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Platform Programme (UNEP). VinylPlus® is now registered as a 'SMART' partnership on the UN Partnerships for SDGs platform.
Additional information can be found at: www.vinylplus.eu.
1. RecoMed
RecoMed aims to collect and recycle non-contaminated PVC medical products from UK hospitals, such as IV solution bags, oxygen masks, oxygen tubing and anaesthetic masks. Since the start of the scheme in 2017 until mid 2020, 23,000kg of medical PVC has been recycled (equivalent to 768,932 oxygen masks).
2. RecoCard
3. Promoting the VinylPlus label & PVC as a sustainable material
Promoting VinylPlus as a sustainable development programme and PVC as the sustainable material of choice for windows to architects, specifiers and installers is one of the most important projects for VinylPlus UK.
Objectives
- Expansion of existing contact database to include fabricators, installers, property developers, and architects.
- Arrange and attend meeting(s) with key contacts in installation/fabrication sector and local architectural firms.
- Using a number of events (e.g. Tradeshows, Webinars, etc) to engage with UK's specifiers/installers of PVC products and promote the VinylPlus scheme and sustainability credentials of PVC.
- To bring about the implementation of similar projects across other EU states addressing ongoing instances of de-selection of PVC products by public bodies
Milestones / Deliverables
- Developed new contacts with key building industry players through attending meetings at the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC)
Contacts Made
- Chartered Institute of Building
- Fernox
- British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC)
- Local Authority Building Control (LABC)
- Acumen Marketing Communications Ltd
4. Addressing de-selection of PVC products in public procurement
Objective to find a way to prevent discrimination against PVC by public bodies but also to provide a good opportunity to promote the VinylPlus product label
Milestones / Deliverables
- Raised the issue directly with key UK Governments, Local Authorities, Housing Associations and private companies (incl. Sky)
- Successfully saw Islington Council remove de-selective criteria for PVC, instead noting that materials should be selected based on their sustainability credentials.
5. Raising awareness of PVC as a sustainable material of choice
Objective: Video animation showcasing sustainability and energy saving of PVC materials to be created to promote the material.
Thanks to a moderate but continuous increase in volumes in nearly all European countries, PVC waste recycling within the VinylPlus framework reached 724,638 tonnes in 2024, of which 444,944 tonnes was pre-consumer waste and 279,693 post-consumer waste.
RecoVinyl
The Recovinyl scheme which accounts for both flexible PVC and films, generated 810,240 tonnes of PVC recycled in 2022. The RecoVinyl mission is to facilitate PVC waste collection and recycling, and encourage the use of recycled PVC, by acting as a mediator between recyclers and converters. RecoVinyl also registers and certifies volumes of PVC recycled, based on the EUCertPlast protocol.
In 2022, the UK was second only to Germany in terms of PVC recycling under the RecoVinyl scheme, the largest contributor to the overall VinylPlus PVC recycling figures.
The VinylPlus® Product Label
The VinylPlus® Product Label is a labelling scheme which makes it easy for customers and markets to identify the most sustainable and high-performance PVC products. Currently, the scheme covers the building and construction sectors.
The VinylPlus® Product Label has been developed by VinylPlus®, in collaboration with Building Research Establishment (BRE Global) and The Natural Step (TNS).
Top 5 reasons to apply for the VinylPlus® Product Label
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Membership Benefits & Marketing Tools
There are many benefits of joining the BPF and specifically our VinylPlus UK Group. This Group acts as the steering committee for the UK’s vinyl sector. The Group’s work, as well as promoting the awareness of VinylPlus and the VinylPlus Product label, serves to promote the positive contribution the UK PVC Sector can make to everyday life through communications programmes including public relations campaigns and promotional resources.
Furthermore, BPF member benefits also include helping to influence the UK plastics industry strategic direction at all levels from overall policy to standards; leading British participation at international trade shows; instant access to detailed plastics market intelligence including polymer pricing, international trade data and lists of global agents & distributors.
For a more comprehensive insight into the benefits of membership, download the BPF Membership Pack.
The European PVC industry has embraced its social responsibility and has been working hard since the late 90s to ensure that the challenge of sustainable development is taken seriously. In the past decade, the industry has made great progress in waste management, innovative recycling technologies, stakeholder engagement and responsible use of additives.
VinylPlus’ scope introduces new areas of work such as energy and resource efficiency, climate change and sustainability awareness, and covering all PVC waste streams. It tackles all the sustainability challenges for PVC, to establish a long-term development framework for the entire value chain and to enable PVC to take its place in, and contribute to, a more sustainable society.
Five key challenges have been identified in an open process of extensive stakeholder dialogue and based on The Natural Step System Conditions for a Sustainable Society. For recent information on our work in each of these five challenges, please visit Our Progress.
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PVC, the environment and Industry Voluntary Commitments The Vinyl 2010 Voluntary Commitment to Sustainable Development was signed on the 7th March 2000, bringing together the European PVC industry supply chain to speak with one, united voice, whilst also developing key relations with decision makers within Government. Over ten years the European PVC Industry made exceptional progress in waste management, recycling and the responsible use of additives. Recycling is a key theme for both the European and UK PVC industry. Under Vinyl 2010, and now VinylPlus the Recovinyl scheme was set-up to facilitate the increased need for recycling of post-consumer PVC recycling, across Europe. The UK has been one of the lead recyclers of the scheme since its inception and recycled a record 144,060 tonnes of PVC in 2022. This however excludes regulated waste streams. The European PVC industry continues to work hard on Sustainable Development and is also recognised as a partner of the UN Partnership for Sustainable Development.
European associations and signatories of the VinylPlus Voluntary Commitment:
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Group Members
Aliaxis UKAltro FloorsBaerlocher UK LtdBerwin Polymer Processing GroupDow Chemical Company Ltd Dugdale LimitedExxonMobil Chemical LtdGPS PE Pipe SystemsINOVYN ChlorVinyls LtdPolyflor LtdPolypipe GroupRENOLIT UK LtdUnited Kingdom Resilient Flooring Association (UKRFA)Vinnolit LtdWavin Plastics Ltd
Contact Information
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BPF Group Executive: Nicki Hunt-Davison Tel: +44(0) 207 457 5033 | Email: n[email protected]
Vinyls Group Chairman: Brian Cosgrove INOVYN ChlorVinyls
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