Vinyl Sustainability Council highlights progress

Seventeen of the 60 companies taking voluntary steps to improve operations and environmental stewardship through the +Vantage Vinyl program have met the requirements for the +V symbol.

Launched in 2016 by the Vinyl Sustainability Council (VSC), which is a partner of the Washington-based Vinyl Institute trade group, the program sets standards for sustainable business practices to meet customer demand for responsibly sourced products and industry goals to reduce environmental footprints.

The members of the self-funded council come from the entire supply chain, including five resin producers, four compounders, three additive suppliers and five end-product manufacturers, as well as vinyl industry trade associations.

The 17 VSC members that earned the verification symbol in 2022 underwent an independent third-party audit by Green Circle LLC, which has issued about 2,000 sustainability certifications since 2009.

The companies are highlighted in a 24-page VSC progress report called "Connecting our Industry to Unleash our Potential," which was released Dec. 13 to provide an update of the ongoing adoption of +Vantage Vinyl verification across the industry.

Seven of the companies are relatively new to the verification process. They include Aurora Plastics LLC, Baerlocher USA, Cornerstone Building Products, Eastman Chemical Co., HMTX Industries LLC, Tarkett North America and Teknor Apex Co.

The other verified companies are Azek Co., ExxonMobil Product Solutions Co., Formosa Plastics Corp. USA, Geon Performance Solutions, Lubrizol Corp., Occidental Chemical Corp., Shintech Inc., Sika Corp., Westlake Corp. and Vestolit, which is a brand of Orbia Polymer Solutions.

The report says the 17 companies meet the minimum requirement for at least 50 percent compliance with guiding principles to improve performance across three so-called impact categories — resource efficiency, emissions, and health and safety — while 88 percent complied with 90 percent or more.

The 27 principles guide companies to strive to, among other things, conserve water; use land prudently to protect ecosystems; disclose information on additives used in PVC products to stakeholders upon request; document sourcing procurement policies; consider sustainability criteria to evaluate research and development projects; and reduce end-product embodied carbon.

VSC Executive Director Jay Thomas described 2021 as a seminal year for the +Vantage Vinyl program with groundwork set to start measuring goals in a transparent way.

"2022 was a year of continuing progress and demonstrating commitment to continuous improvement through reporting of compliance to a more rigorous verification scheme," Thomas said in an email.

VSC members that meet +Vantage Vinyl standards can use a trademark and brand to show customers their verification as a sustainable choice.

Thomas likens the trademark to an organic food label giving the consumer a level of assurance that the food was produced according to a set of healthy growing practices.

The VSC's latest report also gives an update on efforts to recycle vinyl materials at the end of their first useful lives.

In 2020, the vinyl industry recycled more than 1.1 billion pounds of material in the U.S. and Canada, including 142 million pounds of post-consumer (non-packaging) vinyl materials.

The council continues to work toward an industry goal to increase post-consumer PVC recycling to 160 million pounds by 2025.

The report points to the Vinyl Siding Institute collecting used siding for a pilot program in northeast Ohio and the Chemical Fabrics & Film Association (CFFA) recycling vinyl roofs from commercial buildings when they are replaced after decades of use.

In 2021, CFFA collected 758,000 pounds of end-of-life roofing membrane, the report says.

Next up will be a medical device recycling program. A pilot program is in development to recycle non-hazardous medical devices such as saline bags, oxygen masks and tubing into new vinyl products.

"We are working with a hospital system on organizing for a launch of a pilot recycling program in early 2023," Thomas said.

VSC also recognizes companies that demonstrate how the use of recycled materials is a core component of how they do business.

The council most recently gave Lisbon, Ohio-based JP Industrial Products its 2022 Recycling Award for overcoming the challenge to recycle window scrap material, improving its screen technology, and preventing 100 million pounds of PVC from ending up in a landfill.

And, Cary, N.C.-based Cornerstone Building Brands Inc. got this year's Social Impact Award, which acknowledges for its "Home for Good" initiative, which supports affordable housing projects.

In 2021, the VSC's recycling awards went to PVC distributor Ronald Mark Associates (RMA) in Hillside, N.J., and Lakeland Polymers in Boonton, N.J., for finding new uses for end-of-life PVC products and scrap materials.

RMA partnered with Norwich Plastics, a PVC recycler in Ontario, to develop a mass loaded vinyl reprocessed compound. The product incorporates laminated scrap PVC materials generated in the RMA operations and post-consumer materials from other industries.

Since its inception, RMA and Norwich have processed close to 1 million pounds of the new compound, which is comprised of 50-60 percent pre-consumer recycled content by weight.

Lakeland Polymers, a plastic recycling company, partnered with Flex-Tech Hose in San Marcos, Texas, to find a solution for a PVC and copolyester waste issue. Lakeland developed a custom recycling process that allows the incompatible materials in the scrap to be processed into a reusable form.

Lakeland processes over 45,000 pounds per month of PVC scrap material from Flex-Tech in this program. So far, the partnership has diverted over 325,000 pounds of PVC from landfills, extending the life and sustainable use of vinyl.

VSC also gave a "design for reuse" award to Chicago-based Azek Co. for its Landmark Collection decking, which is made entirely from plastic materials, including 50 percent recycled PVC.