PVCAware Organisation
PVC is one of the worlds most versatile and sustainable materials.
PVC is found in virtually every walk of life. It is a material particularly suited to a variety of products: windows, pipes, floor coverings and cables as well as having a growing number of applications in the field of medicine. It is low in its use of resources.
Its production costs are moderate. It has low maintenance requirements. PVC, especially when used in such products as window and door frames, may be continuously recycled in a closed loop with the recycled material being used again and again in new window frames and other building products.
PVC: Too Valuable to waste
PVC (short for polyvinyl chloride) is a cost-effective, low maintenance, lightweight, strong, versatile and fully recyclable material that is adaptable to many applications.
Major benefits in construction
Its light weight, low maintenance thermal properties deliver major benefits in construction. Its properties encourage the wide use of PVC in irrigation and roofing with benefits to users in the Third world. PVC is also ideal for many medical applications.
Whilst PVC is widely used in short-life applications (such as packaging), 90% of PVC applications are designed for medium or long-term use. It is one of the most versatile materials to have been invented with thousands of uses that cannot be economically or practically replaced with other materials.
Wide and varied uses
PVC products are widely used in building and construction such as windows, doors and related profiles; pipes and ducting; flooring; roofing and cladding; electrical cables and wiring; and building membranes.
When used in building products such as window frames PVC requires little maintenance and offers excellent insulation offering excellent cost savings during the lifetime of the product.
Low in energy and material consumption
During initial production and also conversion into finished products PVC is comparatively low in energy and materials consumption. The material is also difficult to ignite and will not sustain flammability when the combustion source is removed.
PVC is 100% recyclable
PVC is 100% recyclable and may be recycled 10 times and more without significant loss of integrity and structure. Theoretically therefore, assuming a 35 year installation life for PVC windows which are then removed and recycled, the PVC from which the original windows were manufactured would have a useful life of 350 years!
57% of the basic PVC molecule is derived from salt, an element in plentiful supply with an estimated 50 quadrillion (one thousand million million) tonnes of dissolved salt in the world's seas alone, with the remainder from oil.
PVC is inert
PVC is inert, a quality that makes it ideal for use in medical products and environments; and the modern production process for PVC is also environmentally friendly: an average European PVC production plant would need to be operating for 30,000 years to produce the same amount of dioxins as on one bonfire night!
Recycle 100%
The PVC industry as a whole has made a voluntary commitment to recycling; in Europe this means a commitment to recycle 100% of collectable waste by 2010. In 2007, 149,500 tonnes of post-consumer PVC were recycled through Vinyl 2010 projects, an 80% increase on 2006 levels when 83,000 tonnes were recycled.
For further information visit the PVCAware Website
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