Recycling
More than 1 billion pounds of PVC/vinyl is recycled annually in the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S. vinyl industry is actively engaged in reducing plastic waste and has an ongoing program to grow post-consumer recycling. More than 1 billion pounds of vinyl is recycled annually in the U.S. and Canada, which includes 958 million pounds of pre-consumer vinyl materials and 142 million post-consumer vinyl materials. The PVC recycling estimates are based on a tri-annual survey of 140 PVC recyclers in the U.S. and Canada, which was last completed in 2019. Totals exclude manufacturing scrap that is internally reused by the producer.
Post-consumer recycling of vinyl products has increased significantly.
Since 2014, there has been a 40-percent increase in post-consumer recycling. More and more vinyl products are finding their way into the recycling stream. Approximately 142 million pounds of consumer vinyl products are recycled annually.
The U.S. vinyl industry is focused on diverting vinyl products from the landfill.
According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statistics, around 1.9 billion pounds of vinyl products are landfilled today in the U.S. The vinyl industry would like to see more products diverted from the landfill and into recycling streams. Resource efficiency and recycling is one of the impact categories the U.S. vinyl industry is addressing in its industry-wide sustainability initiative know as +Vantage Vinyl.
There are over 100 vinyl recyclers in the U.S. and Canada. The VI hosts a recycling directory that identifies recyclers by state and province.
