Disposing of uPVC

Once the PVC products have been used they can be disposed of safely by recycling, incineration or burial methods.

It's claimed that PVC is not recyclable.   This is simply not true.   PVC, like all other thermoplastic materials, can be recycled relatively easily.   The uPVC window industry has been criticised for an apparent lack of post-use recycling.   At this point it should be noted that the primary aim of recycling is to elicit a net environmental benefit through reducing the use of primary resources and/or diverting resources from landfill.  The European PVC industry has most definitely achieved real successes in this regard.  It is now common practice to recover and recycle factory wastes and/or off-cuts after the window has been fabricated.  These materials are then incorporated with virgin polymer to produce further long life products including window profiles.

Now the European PVC Industry is pledging to recycle increasing quantities of post-consumer PVC window waste as part of the Vinyl 2010 Voluntary Commitment.   The Industry has committed to recycle 50% of the collectable available quantities of post-consumer PVC window waste by 2005.   One of the barriers to cost-effective recycling of post-use products – regardless of the materials involved – is the ability to retrieve economically meaningful quantities of used products to supply a recycling scheme with its feedstock.  In Germany, uPVC windows were commercially introduced some fifteen years before they were in the UK.   Hence German companies have now developed proven technologies to recycle post-use PVC windows, which may arise as demolition wastes, for example.  In the UK, however, tonnages have been traditionally modest because uPVC products last so long and there simply hasn’t been enough feedstock yet to input effectively into the recovery and recycling processes.    As post-use PVC windows are slowly becoming more available in sufficient quantities, then the European Industry can apply the appropriate technology to recycle them in commercially viable and environmentally beneficial schemes, as part of the Vinyl 2010 Voluntary Commitment.

• Recycling can be carried out in two ways; either by sorting the waste plastics by hand or more recently automatically, this is known as Mechanical recycling. Alternatively the polymer can be decomposed at high temperatures and then the chemical components can be recovered and recycled. This second method is known as Feedstock recycling.

INCINERATION

As discussed above the incineration of PVC need not present any special problems relating to emissions of dioxins.   Modern incinerators in Europe are designed to meet stringent EU limits on emissions of a number of substances including dioxins and hydrogen chloride.   It should be noted, however, that both of these substances are formed by other materials and not just PVC.

Municipal Solid Waste (MWS).   Organic materials such as, wood, card, paper, textiles and waste foodstuffs, for example, are also capable of forming hydrogen chloride (HCI) as well as other acidic and precursors such as oxides of sulphur and nitrogen (SOx and NOx).   The flue gas wastes must be treated as hazardous due to the presence of heavy metal components – the vast majority of which come from non-PVC sources.   Therefore, the scrubbing and purifying facilities would be required whether PVC was incinerated or not, and so there are no additional capital fixed costs associated with the controlled incineration of PVC, as part of the municipal solid waste stream.   However, it is true that the operating costs can vary according to the amount of PVC in the waste stream, but this also depends upon the conditions of the incineration and the rate of utilisation on the incineration facility.   Based upon these studies made and the average content of PVC in MSW, the incremental cost of PVC in the waste stream may amount to 1-2% of the total cost of incineration.   It should be noted, however, that other component materials present in the waste stream also have associated costs.

• Incineration reduces the amount of PVC waste going to landfill. Burning of PVC does produce toxic gases such as hydrogen chloride but none are any more toxic than carbon monoxide and PVC produces no more deadly dioxins than say the burning of wood. However, the incinerators are equipped with pollution control equipment to minimize the release of emissions to the environment.

LANDFILL

A study by the Chalmers University of Technology of Sweden, concluded that rigid PVC does not degrade in landfill.   uPVC will remain inert in landfill, and there is no evidence to suggest that uPVC would be a source of any toxic substances under landfill conditions.

Although PVC does not pose a specific problem in landfill, it is the PVC Industry’s strategy to divert more PVC waste from landfill and recycle more, for example, as part of the Voluntary Commitment.

• Landfill is carried out for the PVC plastics that can not be recycled. Controlled landfill does not cause significant risk to the environment.

SUMMARY 

PVC depletes fossil reserves, and releases toxic gases and dioxins when manufactured and incinerated.    However, PVC can be recycled, it is cheap, is not very flammable and has many uses some of which have helped save lives. These later pros for PVC plastic outweigh the few cons by far.

Source: British Plastics Federation

            February 2004