Yes, PVC/Vinyl Building Products can be Recycled

According to a recent survey of architects, designers, and building facility managers, there are three major influences that affect their selection of vinyl building materials – recycling, third-party verification of the company’s commitment to environmental social governance (ESG) initiatives, and proof of a company’s sustainable operations.  This survey is conducted every three years by Accountability Information Management, Inc. (AIM) which track specifiers’ perceptions and use of vinyl building materials. While all three topics are important, we are going to do a deep dive into the recyclability of PVC/Vinyl.

 

PVC/vinyl recycling by the numbers.

PVC/Vinyl can, in fact, be (and is) recycled and vinyl products can be made with recycled content. In 2019, the United States and Canada recycled more than 1.1 billion pounds of PVC. This includes 142 million pounds of post-consumer vinyl materials.  PVC can be recycled into the same product up to seven times without losing its mechanical properties. Recycled vinyl materials are also incorporated into other products such as decking, flooring, and fencing to name a few.

 

 

We have seen a growth of recycling programs over the past few years, where manufacturers and industry trade organizations have set up programs in which they recover vinyl products at their end-of-life, reclaim the materials and incorporate them back into the same or other vinyl products. Examples of industry recycling and recovery efforts include:

• Vinyl Roofing
  • With a service life of over 25 years, to be recycled, the roofing membrane can be broken down, and transformed into a new roof or other construction products. In 2020 Chemical Fabrics and Film Associations led a vinyl roofing recycling pilot program that collected 758,000 pounds of end-of-life membranes for recycling.
• Vinyl Flooring
  • Many flooring companies have “take-back” programs where they will take old vinyl flooring and recycle it back into carpet backing or vinyl tile.
• Vinyl Siding
  • Vinyl siding has a service life of over 50 years. When the siding needs to be replaced it can be recycled into fencing, siding, or decking products. A recent siding recycling siding recycling pilot program by the Vinyl Siding Institute in northeast Ohio has already recycled more than 40,000 pounds of vinyl siding within the first month of starting the program.

Growing post-consumer PVC recycling.

The Vinyl Sustainability Council’s (VSC) goal is to increase post-consumer vinyl recycling by 160 million pounds by 2025. The industry is committed to using responsibly sourced raw materials and designing products that can be repurposed and recycled to reduce environmental impact. We want to keep as much PVC material out of the landfill as possible. So recycling pilot programs like those listed above help the industry determine how best to scale recycling efforts across the country.

 

Find a Vinyl/PVC Recycler near you.

There are over 100 recyclers located across North America that accept PVC/Vinyl materials. The Vinyl Institute has a PVC/Vinyl recycling directory to help locate PVC/vinyl recyclers in your area. Visitors to the directory select from a list of PVC/vinyl material(s) that can be recycled. From there, visitors identify the state(s), where they are interested in locating a recycler, and the directory will display recyclers in the selected states that will accept the specified vinyl material items.  Find a recycler near you by clicking here.

We’re always looking to expand the list of recyclers that take vinyl materials. If you are a recycler that accepts PVC materials and would like to be included in the PVC/Vinyl Recycling Directory, please reach out to mtozzie@vinylinfo.org.