Vynova has announced a research & development program to further advance PVC recycling and help the PVC value chain accelerate towards circularity. Vynova’s innovation efforts focus on technologies to remove heavy metals from dissolved rigid post-consumer PVC waste such as used window profiles or pipes.
PVC is widely used in numerous long-lasting and durable applications and can be repeatedly mechanically recycled without any significant loss of key properties. Over the past 20 years, the European Vinyls value chain has been successful in the large-scale implementation of mechanical recycling processes, with more than 700,000 tonnes of PVC recycled in Europe every year. However, due to the long lifespan of PVC applications such as windows or pipes, PVC waste often still contains additives that were used in production decades ago, but have since been proactively phased out by the European Vinyls industry. In order to ensure full compliance with existing and potential future restrictions related to such legacy additives, innovative solutions are required.
To help realize this goal, Vynova has launched an R&D programme comprising both internal research efforts and collaborations with academic institutions. One of these collaborations is focused on removing heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, from end-of-life rigid PVC products through a combination of dissolution and membrane filtration technologies. If the current research efforts are successful in providing expanded, viable recycling options for the European PVC industry, Vynova will move towards industrialisation of these technologies by 2030.
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