PVC RECYCLING - INDUSTRY DECEIVES POLITICIANS AND CONSUMERS

24 April 1998

Brussels -- More and more PVC (vinyl) enters the waste stream with no safe disposal option in sight, and alleged PVC recycling is nothing but greenwash of the PVC industry - said Greenpeace in a report released today in Brussels , (1). The environmental group also urged the European Commission to live up to its commitment of July 1997 and propose measures to tackle PVC waste (2).

"The PVC industry has had ten years to demonstrate that PVC can be recycled, but failed. Most of the recycling projects did not go beyond demonstration projects to justify PVC uses to the public and to avoid phase out legislation on PVC. PVC industry has no genuine interest in PVC recycling as it is not economically viable", said Wytze van der Naald of Greenpeace International, co-author of the report.

According to the international environmental group, PVC has the lowest recycling rate compared to other commodity plastics like PET and polyethylene, not even reaching 1%. PVC is unique in its high content of different and often hazardous additives (e.g. lead, cadmium, phthalates), needed to achieve the wide spectrum of very different PVC products. As a result, PVC requires costly separation from other plastics and separate collection or sorting into the various products before recycling, and even then often only allows downcycling into products of inferior quality. PVC recycling is 2-3 times more expensive than the production of virgin PVC, while the market value of PVC recyclate, due to the loss of material quality, is only about 70% compared to virgin PVC. In the light of this, large amounts of PVC waste are being exported from OECD to non-OECD countries, mainly downcycled into low-quality products which will create disposal problems soon after.

Furthermore, PVC disturbs the recycling of other plastics (e.g. PET) and contaminates the recycling of other wastes (e.g. end of life vehicles). According to the Association of Post-consumer Recyclers (APR) in the US, "PVC bottles are a contaminant to the recycling of PET and HDPE bottles and have no place in post-consumer plastic bottle recycling" (3). The Dutch car recyclers consider PVC a hazardous substance in shredder waste and recommend that PVC in cars should be phased out (4).

While the PVC industry claims that PVC can and is being recycled, it strongly lobbies for continued incineration or landfilling of PVC. According to Greenpeace, incineration or landfilling are no solutions to the PVC waste crisis. The hazardous additives may be released both in landfilling and incineration. When PVC is incinerated, its high chlorine content makes it a potential source for dioxin emissions. Furthermore, incineration of PVC leads to an increased amount of the final waste, as new chemicals must be added to the process to neutralize the chlorine. 1 kg of incinerated PVC will form approximately 1 to 3 kg of contaminated waste.

"Instead of shouldering the burden of costs and pollution to local communities, the PVC industry needs to be held responsible for its waste", said Axel Singhofen, EU Toxics Advisor of Greenpeace International. "As long as PVC is not taken out of the municipal waste stream, the PVC industry will continue to privatize the profits, leaving the costs to society".

More than half of the PVC consumption consists of long-life products (e.g. pipes, window frames, used mostly in the building sector) with an average life time of 34 years. The PVC consumption of the past thirty to forty years is now turning into waste, and the amount of PVC waste is expected to double or even triple in the coming decade. As the plastic industry forecasts a 3-4 fold increase in the proportion of plastic waste being incinerated for energy recovery in Europe, the amount of PVC waste incinerated in Europe may be 10 times higher in the next 10 years.

"It is time that governments open their eyes and assume their responsibility to protect their citizens, the environment, and sustainable industry instead of continuing to protect the short-term profits of one highly polluting industry sector, the PVC industry", added Axel Singhofen. "Governments should tackle this looming PVC waste crisis and start phasing out the use of PVC now."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Wytze van der Naald, Greenpeace International, +31-20-5236 209
- Axel Singhofen, Greenpeace International, +32-2-2801987
- Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace International Communications, +31-20-5249 546

Hard copies of the report "PVC plastic - A looming Waste Crisis" are
available from Luisa Colasimone

(2) Proposal for a Council Directive on end of life vehicles , COM (97) 358 final, OJ C337/3, preamble paragraph 16: "Whereas PVC is a material commonly present in end of life vehicles; whereas the Commission will consider the evidence regarding the environmental aspects relating to the presence of PVC in waste streams; whereas, on the basis of this evidence, the Commission will review its policy regarding the presence of PVC in waste streams and will come forward with proposals to address problems which may arise in this regard; whereas this is justified on environmental or health grounds"

(3) Press release 15 April 1998, " APR takes a stand on PVC".

(4) Presentation of Mr G. Eggink of 'Auto Recycling Netherlands' for the Intergroup for Automobile Users Meeting in the European Parliament on End of Life Vehicles on 3 December 1997.