Fully recycling PVC, including waste currently considered non-mechanically recyclable: this is the objective of the CIRC-PVC project. Led by INEOS Inovyn and a broad consortium of Walloon partners, the project has enabled the development and testing of an innovative prototype. Overview.
Even today, a significant share of plastic waste is sent for incineration or landfill, despite its potential to become a raw material for new applications. PVC, widely used in the construction sector, clearly illustrates this challenge.
While mechanical recycling of PVC is already well developed for certain rigid applications such as window frames or pipes, and for flexible uses like cables or flooring, there are still waste streams for which no industrial solution exists. This is particularly the case for applications containing legacy additives that are now banned or for composite materials.
An innovative approach across the entire value chain
To address this challenge, INEOS Inovyn launched the CIRC-PVC project. The ambition is to analyze and demonstrate the feasibility of a complete value chain, from waste collection to reintegration of recycled material into new products.
“We wanted to consider the entire process: recovering PVC waste from construction and demolition sites, sorting it, and then developing a solution for waste that cannot be mechanically recycled. It is within this framework that we developed a dissolution technology,” explains Eric Romers.
This technology makes it possible to process waste containing legacy additives that are now banned, as well as composite materials.
“These additives can no longer be used, but they are still present in many PVC products and will remain so for decades. Their presence prevents mechanical recycling. We therefore developed a technology to extract them before reusing the material,” he adds.
A consortium of partners rooted in Wallonia
The project is based on close collaboration between several industrial and scientific partners, particularly in the Jemeppe-sur-Sambre region, where the INEOS Inovyn site is located.
• Entreprises Générales Louis Duchêne handled the collection of PVC and other plastic waste.
• Vanheede Environmental Logistics provided collection solutions and expertise in waste sorting.
• ROVI-TECH developed an innovative sorting technology prototype.
• ECO-DEC contributed its expertise in solid-liquid separation.
• Avient Corporation (Belgian site) formulated new PVC compounds using recycled material and validated their performance.
Industrial partners were also supported by Centexbel for analytical capabilities, and by University of Liège, which worked on both life cycle analysis and supply chain optimization. The competitiveness clusters GreenWin and Logistics in Wallonia also supported the project from its inception.
Proven results and long-term prospects
After two years of research, the consortium developed a functional prototype and demonstrated the viability of the entire value chain, from waste to new product.
The next phase of the project aims to go further. “Our objective is to create a new consortium to continue work on additive extraction and the valorization of this waste, which is currently costly to treat through incineration,” says Eric Romers.
By 2030, the ambition is to establish an industrial unit dedicated to dissolution and the extraction of banned additives. An intermediate step will nevertheless be required.
“This will require subsidies, but also support from the European Union to create incentives enabling the emergence of a competitive market for recycled PVC,” he concludes.
Isabelle Anneet (AWEX)
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