The vinyl industry is providing around $500,000 a year to boost the recycling of PVC bottles through the kerbside collection system. The program, launched by Senator Robert Hill, Environment Minister, is part of the industry’s commitment under the National Packaging Covenant to increase the recycling rate of PVC bottles from five to 25 percent.
This will remove 21 million bottles a year from the waste stream and save the need to manufacture an equivalent quantity of virgin PVC (vinyl) resin.
PVC bottles have the number ‘3’ inside the ‘chasing arrows’ logo on the bottom of the bottle. However, householders often have difficulty in distinguishing between the three main types of plastic bottle. And the fact is they shouldn’t have to do so, as all are recoverable and recyclable.
Many municipalities do not yet include PVC in their kerbside recycling contracts.
“We are asking Councils to include PVC bottles in their tender specifications as contracts come up for renewal”, said Australian Vinyls’ General Manager Corporate and Environmental Affairs, Rob Faulkner.
“This way the recovery of the bottles will grow efficiently and in a natural sequence.”
Australian Vinyls, the program manager, along with partners Peteron Plastics and Hollywood Plastics, has recently increased the buy back price for PVC bottles to make it more attractive for Councils to include PVC in their kerbside collections.
“We aim to strengthen collections in Victoria, Adelaide and Tasmania, greatly step up recovery in Sydney and Canberra, and bring on collection in Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong and Perth”, Rob Faulkner said.
“This is a minimum, and needs to be achieved over a period of time.”
Councils may be particularly interested in the program’s tiered buy back price, designed to help offset the costs of transport to the sole Australian reprocessing plant near Geelong in Victoria. The special properties of PVC, including strength, clarity and mouldability into almost any shape, make it the product of choice in many applications, where, for example, a handle is needed for ease of carrying and pouring.
The baled bottles are delivered to the reprocessor, CryoGrind Australia where they are shredded, washed, dried and milled into a clean white powder. This process employs specialised cryogenic technology which helps purify the stream.
The resulting powder is blended with pigments and performance additives and delivered to product manufacturers for conversion into end use products. The recyclate is used in lieu of virgin material, displacing this on a one for one basis.
PVC bottles are currently recycled into pipe fittings and flooring tiles. Much time has been devoted over the last year into developing major new applications to underpin the growth of the project. Additional applications in pipe fittings and a new application in extruded pipe have been successfully tested.
Australian Vinyls is now in a position to bring on line applications capable of fully absorbing the entire 25 percent kerbside recovery.
Achievement of the 25 percent target is dependent on the anticipated cooperation and input of all those in the supply chain including the following.
- Major customers of the bottle manufacturers
- Householders
- Local Government
- Kerbside collectors and sorting centres
- Dedicated vinyl products recycler, CryoGrind Australia
- Manufacturers of end use applications for the recyclate.
The commitment of Local Government is particularly critical.
For further information contact Rob Faulkner, Australian Vinyls General Manager Corporate and Environmental Affairs, telephone (03) 9368 4857 or visit www.av.com.au .
* Copy provided by Australian Vinyls
