Academics at Bradford University will lead a consortium with industry experts to examine whether end-of-life PVC should be recycled, how this could be done, and whether there are high value markets for recycled PVC products. It will report in March 2004.
WRAP’s plastics specialist Louise Hollingworth said that most PVC waste “ends up in landfill because it doesn’t lend itself to conventional mechanical recycling”.
Around 700,000 tonnes of PVC is consumed each year in the UK, much of it in the construction, cabling and automotive product industries. Of this, about one quarter, some180,000 tonnes, annually enters the waste stream, according to recent research, WRAP said.
The project aims to make PVC use more sustainable by reducing production of the material and avoiding its landfill and incineration. The industry has committed itself to recycling an extra 200,000 tonnes of PVC across the European Union by 2010.
The Bradford research team also includes EVC, Hydro Polymers and Solvay.
Its work will be monitored by a steering group including WRAP, the British Plastics Federation and the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection.
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