Five more companies met standards set by the Vinyl Sustainability Council (VSC) to show commitments to sustainability to everyone who makes decisions about materials, from architects and engineers to building owners, municipalities and consumers.
The standards are part of the +Vantage Vinyl program, a voluntary initiative that the VSC, an 80-member consortium, oversees for the Washington, D.C.-based Vinyl Institute trade group.
Thirty companies are now verified with +Vantage Vinyl and have been awarded the right to use the program trademark as evidence of their commitment to advancing sustainability in the vinyl industry.
The five companies receiving first-year verification are i2M, a flexible polymer films manufacturer based in Mountaintop, Pa.; CertainTeed, a building products manufacturer based in Malvern Pa.; materials maker Dow Inc., based in Midland, Mich.; Performance Additives LLC in Southern Pines, N.C.; and Simona America Group, a sheets and rods supplier in Atlanta.
+Vantage Vinyl provides verification from GreenCircle Certified LLC, an independent third-party auditor, for conformance to 29 principles aligned with five so-called pillars of sustainability. The pillars are environmental stewardship, social diligence, economic soundness, collaboration and open communications.
Achieving +Vantage Vinyl verification is seen as a way to assure the public that a company is meeting the requirements of the program and, ultimately, to reduce the complexity of making material choices to meet sustainability expectations.
The United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development can't be achieved without industry participation, the report says, pointing to vinyl's role in products critical to infrastructure, electrification, shelter, delivering safe drinking water, protecting against infectious diseases, maintaining food safety and delivering life-saving medical treatments.
The +Vantage Vinyl program is highlighted in the VSC's 2023 progress report called "On the forefront."
The consortium of resin and additive suppliers, material compounders, product manufacturers and recyclers provides a pathway for companies to verify and communicate their sustainability commitments through the +Vantage Vinyl standard, according to VSC officials.
"This year's theme of charting the future reflects the update to our standard and the work we're doing to move the industry forward with the updated standard," Gil Connolly, press secretary for the Vinyl Institute, said in an email.
Every five years, the VSC updates the priority areas. The 2023 update reconfirmed the council's current focus with the addition of some new areas of interest.
For example, eight sustainability issues and opportunities were identified as Level 1 priorities with the top one being recycling and reuse. Next on the list is greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions followed by supply chain management, user health, sustainable product portfolio assessment, waste and hazardous materials management, transparency, and board engagement on climate risk.
The eight priorities will "inform" the work of VSC task forces focused on resource efficiency, emissions, and people and communities, the report says.