Polyflor SA has recycled more than 4 tonnes of vinyl floor off-cuts since it launched the initiative at the end of last year, thereby allowing the local PVC industry to move forward with its sustainability goals as set out in SAVA’s (Southern African Vinyls Association) Product Stewardship Commitment. 

According to Tandy Coleman, CEO of Polyflor SA, the company’s initiative to recycle off cuts generated during the installation of vinyl floors, has been widely welcomed and well-supported by installers. “Diverting these off-cuts from landfill and sending them off to recyclers for use in the manufacture of rigid and flexible products such as pipes, cables, shoe soles and car mats, is of great environmental significance.  Good quality, clean materials that are void of any glues or substances can now be used to create new products with a useful service life instead of ending up in landfill or polluting the atmosphere,” Coleman says. 

According to SAVA CEO, Delanie Bezuidenhout, PVC manufacturers and consumers increasingly aim for the sustainable use of the product through all stages of its life cycle. “The promulgation of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act has placed great emphasis on recycling and the reduction of materials to landfill. To this end, SAVA and its members endeavour to create and participate in many community, industry and government programmes which are designed to ensure appropriate management of PVC products at the end-of-life.  We applaud this initiative of Polyflor that not only helps to increase the awareness of the fact that PVC is recyclable, but also delivers tangible and impressive result in a very short time frame when it comes to collecting and recycling end-of-life PVC,” she says. 

Polyflor contractors receive specially branded bags for their vinyl floor off-cuts, which are then returned to the Polyflor SA head office for weighing and collection by recyclers. “Our aim is to increase our recycling rate by 100% % by the end of 2017 which will have a significant impact on SAVA’s aim of increasing the recycling of post-consumer PVC-P to 15000 mt per annum, and the recycling of post-consumer PVC-U to 10000 mt per annum,” Tandy concludes. 

For more information, visit www.polyflor.co.za and www.savinyls.co.za