With the formation of Vinyl 2010 in the year 2000, the European PVC manufacturing industry under the auspices of The European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM), has made a strong case for the sustainability of PVC as a construction material. The ten-year Vinyl 2010 programme has since been replaced by VinylPlus, which seeks to reinforce the sustainability arguments that the previous initiative generated.
Launched in 2011, VinylPlus is a ten-year voluntary industry commitment to present a comprehensive approach to sustainable development. In partnership with The Natural Step, an international sustainability NGO, the European PVC industry has identified five key challenges for the manufacture and use of PVC:
- Emissions
- Energy and raw material consumption
- Recycling
- Sustainable use of additives
- Raising global awareness of sustainability
BioClad will be taking a look at each of these five areas in a series of short articles over the next five weeks. Starting next week with ‘Emissions’, we will be considering the issues raised by these five key challenges and discussing the continuing efforts that the industry is making through its VinylPlus programme to promote PVC hygienic wall cladding as a durable and sustainable construction material.
Watch this space!