On 23rd & 24th November 2022, the European PVC Industry Summit was held in London, and for the first time, Intelicare partners and extrusion experts, Bausano sponsored the event.
As well as presenting at the conference, Bausano and Intelicare were on hand to answer questions during the conference, and it was fantastic to meet other conference members and policy makers. Thank you to all how took the time to chat to us.
As we discussed in our previous blog about the summit, the new European Green Deal, increasing production costs, and directives on plastic waste and intermediaries are just some of the challenges currently faced by the PVC industry. Couple this with the projected growth of the European PVC market, and it is easy to see this is a time of extraordinary development for the industry. The summit looked to address these latest changes, as well as the excellent opportunities for the industry.
Chairperson, James Elliot (Business Development Manager, Argus) opened the two-day event, discussing the continued role PVC plays, most notably, for example, in the construction sector, cable insulation and life-saving medical applications.
Discussion started on the current state of the PVC market, with a talk from Michael Vitiello (PVC Editor, Argus).
After a look at the current shape of the market, Henry Warren (Director, Chlorine and Vinyls EMEA, Chemical Market Analytics) discussed the future of the industry, while Peter Singstad (MD, Cybernetica) discussed Maximising Profitability of Batch and Semi-batch PVC Reactors by Advanced Process Control.
There was an important emphasis on sustainability within the industry, including a talk from Bausano’s Export Manager for the UK and Ireland, Giorgio Critelli, and Intelicare’s own Paul Jones, on Recycling and Recovery methods of Post Industrial Plastic Scraps, which demonstrated how Bausano’s extrusion technology can make the concept of the circular economy a reality, rather than just a talking point.
Additional conference presentations which discussed recycling and environmental accountability included Recycling and Recovery Methods (Kimm Besselsen, Business Development & Sustainable Projects, Vinylrecycling); Minimising the Impact on the Environment (Dr. Michelle Lynch, Owner & Director, Enabled Future Limited); and Economical recyclability of used PVC floor coverings bonded with dry adhesives (Thomas Wigger, Head of Customised Solutions, SiFloor). These excellent talks highlighted the fact that PVC is an inherently recyclable material and is used in a huge variety of applications. It is an incredibly valuable feedstock, and conference attendees agreed that it is simply too valuable to waste, and should, as much as possible, be diverted from incineration or landfill, and reused as a valuable commodity. It is clear that in Europe, much is being done to help PVC become part of the circular economy, and more needs to be done to debunk some of the unhelpful myths surrounding PVC.
The theme of sustainability continued into day two, with talks including Developing a circular economy for resilient floorcoverings in Europe (Jane Gardner, Managing Director, European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers’ Institute), and New Bio-based Options to Replace General-Purpose and Fast-Fusing Plasticisers in PVC Plastisols (Dr. Martin Stimpson, Market Development Manager, Valtris Specialty Chemicals).
A presentation from Dr. Sara Haveriku (R&D Material Chemsitry, Ipool srl) on Optimising PVC Fire Resistance Performance, discussing her and her company’s work on stabilising PVC.
The final presentation of the conference came from Simon Scholes, who discussed a recent, PVC Window recycling success story?. It was an uplifting presentation on which to conclude the conference.
Before Chairperson, James Elliot made his closing remarks, there was a round table discussion lead by Ivo Besselsen (PVC Recycing Coach, BessTrade PVC Recycling).
Thank you to the ACI for hosting us, it was an enlightening conference, which brought together members across the whole value chain including senior executives from chemical companies, PVC production companies and PVC product manufacturers as well as plastic waste and recycling companies, regulators and government policy makers, and market consultants.
There were many takeaways from the presentations and discussions that we look forward to exploring further at Intelicare HQ, to ensure our customers are offered the latest in PVC processing technology.
