summer 2012 / issue 1 - ineos · summer 2012 / issue 1. ineos chlorvinyls limited, runcorn site hq,...

PVC FutureSummer 2012 / Issue 1

INEOS ChlorVinyls Limited, Runcorn Site HQ, South Parade, PO Box 9Runcorn, Cheshire. WA7 4JE United Kingdom www.ineoschlorvinyls.com

Has PVC’s contribution to sport been recognised at last?PAGE 4

VinylPlus is ensuring a future for PVCThe industry’s new voluntary commitment, has reported on its first year of progress 02

PVC’s key credentials for sustainabilityNew presentation highlights building & construction sustainability facts 05

CO2 footprinting tool for designersDo you know the carbon footprint of your products? Help is available to cope with this increasingly common request 07

New EPDs now available for PVC pipesFull life cycle-based comparisons between PVC and traditional material pipe systems are now available 08

REACH software tool for PVC recyclersThe danger that PVC recycling companies could not comply with the REACH legislation has been averted 09

Cost competitiveness - now we have the factsNew study concludes that PVC windows are much less expensive over their life-cycle than either wood or aluminium 10

GLOBAL Australian PVC sustainability......3

FEEDBACK ‘Be more vocal’........5

COMMENT ‘Reassess PVC’..........6

DID YOU KNOW? Vinyl Records + 36%.10

Ensuring a future for PVCJason [email protected]

The European PVC industry’s new voluntary commitment, VinylPlus, launched on the 22nd June 2011, has reported on its first year of progress.

Building on the foundations of the Vinyl 2010 programme, it takes some huge steps forward in addressing the sustainability challenges of PVC throughout the value chain.

For INEOS ChlorVinyls, Vinyl-Plus is a huge commitment, both in terms of financial support (our fund-ing contribution represents around 25% of its budget) as well as our con-tributions towards progress on the five key sustainability challenges. A brief summary of each of these challenges and how we interpret them is set out below:

CHALLENGE 1CONTROLLED-LOOP

MANAGEMENTPerhaps PVC’s greatest strength is

the fact that it can be recycled at end-of-life. There is no question that in the years ahead, those materials that conserve resources, such as through recycling, are likely to be the real win-ners of the future. A number of years

ago we looked at how many times the same PVC product could be recycled, without significant loss in physical properties. We achieved nine thermal

cycles without having to add any new stabilisers and we guess we could have gone further. We also know that re-cycling is not without its challenges; hence the new VinylPlus commit-ment of 800,000 tonnes of recycled PVC per annum by 2020 is a stretch target.

For some of our customers, recy-cling has become an integral part of their businesses whilst for others it presents both a challenge and an op-portunity.

What remains important for the future success of this challenge is to ensure that we continue to overcome a number of hurdles such as dealing with legacy additives and finding new innovative solutions to the more diffi-cult-to-recycle PVC materials.

With such an ambitious target, it’s essential that volumes that are being recycled are accurately recorded under the Recovinyl and other trade associa-tion schemes. Therefore we encour-age all of our customers to ensure that their recycling volumes are captured and reported under the VinylPlus Vol-untary Commitment.

CHALLENGE 2ADDRESSING POTENTIAL

CONCERNS ABOUT ORGANO CHLORINE EMISSIONS

Total dioxin emissions to air over one year comparing one of our plants at Rafnes, Norway to typical dioxin emissions from

the marine engine of a tug-boat

Of all the five challenges, this one is probably the most contentious. On the one hand, we believe that emissions or organochlorine com-pounds are relatively low from our operations, whilst on the other we still read concerns expressed about dioxins in the media.

What remains important is that there is engagement with external stakeholders and on this front we look forward to the opportunity to debate such issues. We welcome the fact that VinylPlus will be planning a workshop on such emissions over the coming months with external stake-holders, which can only help towards better understanding.

Process safety, seen as part of this challenge, remains a top priority for INEOS ChlorVinyls and we are com-mitted to maintaining the highest standards of safety and environmental performance across all of our sites – thereby demonstrating our commit-ment to the ‘Responsible Care’ phi-losophy.

CHALLENGE 3 ADDITIVES

As a major resin producer we wel-come the challenge of reviewing all additives used in PVC formulations from a sustainability perspective. For

example the systematic reduction in lead stabilisers (decreased by 71.4% in the EU-27 compared to 2007 )

PVC Future Issue 1 /

A 100% post-consumer recycled window manufactured by the Epwin Group Picture: INEOS ChlorVinyls

0.04 gram TEQ per yearPicture: INEOS ChlorVinyls

0.07 gram TEQ per yearPicture: Wikipedia. Copyright Eric Baetscher 2008 Picture: INEOS ChlorVinyls

replaced with stabilisers with lower environmental impact, is an excellent example of product stewardship

Yet, what remains equally impor-tant is that any substitution of one material with another is done with full scientific rigour. On this front, the involvement of The Natural Step, a critical partner to VinylPlus can only help in such scrutiny to ensure that all additives are consistent with attaining full sustainability.

CHALLENGE 4SUSTAINABLE ENERGY USE

Our upstream manufacturing pro-cesses are energy intensive and it is vital for the long term future of our business, to utilise ways of producing energy that are less dependent on con-ventional fossil fuels that are increas-ingly expensive and limited in supply. We welcome the establishment of a new “Energy Efficiency Task Force” created by VinylPlus that will better analyse specific energy consumption and define ad-hoc reduction targets.

Equally, we have seen through life cycle analysis that the energy impacts of PVC are not dissimilar to com-peting materials and in a number of cases, lower especially when the ‘in-use’ phase is taken into consideration. Hence by systematically reducing our energy consumption, this can only serve to increase the competitiveness of our products, and achieving a 20% reduction by 2020 is some challenge.

For INEOS ChlorVinyls, this challenge remains hugely important to the long-term sustainability of our business.

CHALLENGE 5SUSTAINABILITY

AWARENESS The many targets identified within

VinylPlus can only become truly suc-cessful when two conditions are met; progress and communication. Vinyl-Plus has a distinct advantage insofar as it builds on the credibly successful Vinyl 2010 programme which means that it is more than just a promise; it comes with a successful track record.

Yet the challenge of sustainability awareness is more than communica-tion, for example, one of its first tasks is to create its own unique product la-bel that will define new standards for responsible sourcing. We are pleased that the Building Research Establish-ment is facilitating this development in partnership with a VinylPlus task force, with a launch date set for the end of the year.

Finally, we would encourage our customers to support the VinylPlus initiative through visible member-ship and product participation. For those considering joining please go to: www.vinylplus.eu/en_GB/about-vinylplus/the-organisation/partners/how-to-join.

A further incentive is that every year an exciting new bidding process for Vi-nylPlus funding is launched, which, if successful, could provide a unique funding mechanism for new projects contributing towards VinylPlus.

Finally, we trust that our new news-letter is itself contributing towards this last challenge!


Picture: INEOS ChlorVinyls Picture: VinylPlus

Australian PVC industry follows in the footsteps of Vinyl2010

Nine years after commencing its industry-wide product stewardship programme, the Australian PVC in-dustry has just released its latest an-nual report of progress in improving the environmental and health im-pacts associated with the life cycle of PVC and PVC products.

“This is an ongoing, evolution-ary programme,” Sophi MacMillan, Chief Executive of the Vinyl Council of Australia says. “We are pleased to see from this independently verified report that the industry in Australia continues to make progress and to address new aspects of the PVC life cycle.”

The 2011 PVC Product Steward-ship Programme Progress Report outlines the activities of signatory companies against their obligations under the Programme commit-ments. A history of reports shows continued advancement and de-velopment of best practice in PVC manufacturing as Signatories strive for full compliance.

A key deliverable under the Pro-gramme has been the 99 per cent re-duction in the use of lead compound based stabilisers. Used for over 50 years in some PVC products, on a voluntary basis, lead stabilisers have been virtually eliminated from Sig-natory products in Australia.

The Programme has also identified PVC waste recovery as a growing priority to support the initiatives of Signatories in recycling their prod-uct waste into new vinyl products.

A copy of the report can be downloaded from:

www.vinyl.org.au

PVC sporting success

Roger [email protected]

The Commission for Sustainable London 2012 has declared that:

“The London 2012

Olympic Games are on track to be the most

sustainable ever held”.

Over 142,000 square metres of PVC fabric have been used for con-struction of London 2012 Olympic venues. The PVC fabric is highly visi-ble as membrane wraps and roofing at the London 2012 Water Polo Arena; Aquatics Centre; Eton Manor; Royal Artillery Barracks; Basketball Arena and the main Olympic Stadium. PVC products are also being used for performance sports surfaces, protec-tive barriers and matting. In addition PVC products are being used behind the scenes for cable insulation and pipes.

The Olympic Delivery Authority’s ‘Learning Legacy’ document states that “There are cases where for Health

and Safety reasons the only solution is a PVC based material”.

Much of the PVC used for the London 2012 Olympics will be either taken back for recycling or re-used. In the case of the Basketball Arena, PVC fabric provides a shell for the entire building. The Mayor of Rio de Jani-ero is reported to be very interested in shipping the Basketball Arena struc-ture down to Brazil after the London Games for the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

INEOS ChlorVinyls has shown leadership by attending many meet-ings with the London 2012 organ-isers throughout the procurement decision making process. Organisers have used information that the Com-pany has provided (directly and via the British Plastics Federation, BPF) in developing the PVC product selec-tion criteria.

During 2012 there are also the UEFA 2012 European Football Championships, hosted by Poland and the Ukraine. For the Warsaw sta-dium a flexible PVC fabric has been used for the centre of the roof, which can be rolled into place in about 20

minutes when required. In order to help communicate the

essential role that PVC products are playing during this Summer of sport the BPF Vinyls Group have prepared a new animated video and brochure, ‘PVC in Sport’. These communica-tion materials provide information about the use of PVC – not only for the construction of new sporting venues, but also for sports clothing, equipment and sports surfaces.

The animation can be viewed at:http://youtu.be/WGNAc5dcX0w

The PVC in Sport brochure is down-loadable from www.bpf.co.uk


Olympic basketball arenaPicture: LOCOG


A new presentation has been pre-pared for use with customers high-lighting a number of key sustainabil-ity credentials inherent to PVC. The request came rather serendipitously; a large multi-national construc-tion company Balfour Beatty had some concerns over the use of PVC emanating from the London 2012 Games. This prompted the company to explore this issue further. Initial contact was made to Loughborough University who in turn contacted INEOS ChlorVinyls. Balfour Be-

atty specifically requested, in simple terms, a PVC sustainability presenta-tion that could be used for training their staff. Interestingly, we learned that Balfour Beatty have their own

Sustainability vision, known as 2020. When we looked at the de-tails of their vision there is a striking similarity to our VinylPlus frame-work.

Balfour Beatty– We need a wider sustainability definition– 2020 Vision Strategy– Balfour Beatty Aspirations– 31 Issues identified– Defined carbon reduction targets– Provide recycling arrangements with specific targets– Develop responsible sourcing schemes

VinylPlus– We use the sustainability definition of TNS– VinylPlus 10 year Challenges– VinylPlus Principles– 31 Targets agreed– Defined carbon reduction targets– Increase recycling from 260KT to 800KT by 2020– Develop VinylPlus Eco-Label to demonstrate responsible sourcing

“Be more vocal about the good things you are doing”says retail group KingfisherRoger Mottram [email protected]

In January 2012 a joint delegation from the European Council of Plasti-cisers and Intermediates (ECPI) and the BPF Vinyls Group met with Paul Ellis, Quality Regulation Manager for the Kingfisher Group. Kingfisher is Europe’s leading home improvement retail group and the third largest in the world, with over 900 stores in eight countries in Europe and Asia.

Paul Ellis informed us that:

“Perception in the market is that PVC is harmful to the envi-ronment with risks to the work-ers producing the end product. Recycling of PVC is also per-

ceived to be problematic.”

The Kingfisher Group have already taken measures to eliminate PVC packaging in their stores, and the use of PVC for some product lines is cur-rently under review.

During the meeting, and as a follow-up, INEOS ChlorVinyls has provided information about the posi-tive environmental and performance arguments in favour of PVC products – including details of the industry’s Vinyl 2010 and VinylPlus initiatives.

In a presentation Paul Ellis pre-pared for the April 26th ECVM General Assembly he states:

“From the information received

from Roger (Mottram) it is clear that the PVC industry has been busy. However, we are silent in the market. I would encourage the industry to be more vocal and shout about the great work you are doing.”

Paul Ellis kindly agreed to help us to present our positive messages to the wider retailer community by ar-ranging for a presentation about PVC at the British Retail Consortium Environment Committee on June 14th this year. A concise presentation targeted at providing the retailers with key relevant arguments in favour of PVC will be prepared for this meeting.

PVC’s key sustainability credentials within building & construction

Jason Leadbitter, [email protected]

Having worked for many years in the vinyl flooring industry you get ac-customed to understanding the ben-efits of your products. We put a lot of effort into communicating the en-vironmental impact of our products and processes, never more relevant than they are today in ‘greening’ the construction industry.

Obviously vinyl flooring is made up of a combination of raw materi-als, one of the most significant being PVC. I recently attended a most in-teresting presentation by a PVC pro-ducer, giving an update on the state of the PVC industry across Europe, specifically environmental progress that has been made.

To say it was a positive experience would be an understatement. Indeed by the end of the session our minds were very much focussed on both what a truly remarkable raw mate-rial it is that our vinyl floors are based around, but also what a good news story the progress of the PVC indus-try over the last 15 years or so actually

is.There have been major advances

in manufacture, but the industry has also executed what is now regarded as an exemplar of a voluntary industry initiative.

The Vinyl 2010 initiative, first published in March 2000, addressed some of the challenges facing it, spe-cifically in environmental terms. Ob-jectives were identified and targets set, with all key commitments be-ing achieved by the end the period. These included surpassing the target for recycling 200,000 tonnes of post consumer waste per annum and im-proving the eco-efficiency of PVC – phasing out lead from rigid prod-ucts, a prime example of this. Such improvements have also impacted positively on the overall LifeCycle Assessment (LCA) of PVC, giving it improved beneficial comparisons against alternative materials.

The success of the Vinyl 2010 scheme should also be viewed in the context that most pan-European

voluntary industry initiatives end in failure. It has been highly regarded by European politicians, NGOs and other interested parties.

The follow-up VinylPlus has now been put in place to see us through the next 10 years. More challenging targets have been set, such as recy-cling 800,000 tonnes of post con-sumer waste by 2020 and for resin producers, to reduce their energy consumption by 20% and a drive for ever more sustainable additives.

Moreover, the whole structure of the scheme has been re-shaped and opened up to bring in more third parties and NGOs. For example, the scheme is now being run according to the principles of ‘The Natural Step System’ - a well respected, and for me, what appears to be a prag-matic environmental approach that can work with industry to improve the environmental position for us all.

PVC has been known for many years as a material that is high per-formance, cost effective, energy effi-

‘PVC is a major contributor to sustainability’


The following article, written by Simon James, marketing manager at Polyflor, was originally published in Contract Flooring Journal earlier this year, following a presentation made by INEOS ChlorVinyls. It has been reproduced with both the author’s and the journal’s kind permission.

Simon James, marketing manager at Polyflor

Slip resistant PVC safety flooringPicture: Polyflor


Do you know the carbon foot-print of your products? You may not have been asked for such information but it is an increasingly important re-quest largely driven by the concerns raised on climate change. For some product sectors, such as pipes, floor-ing and window profiles, a considera-ble amount of data is freely available; for example see the Environmental Product Declaration Section on Pipes for more details. For other sectors, such information is sparser. There are a number of environmental consult-ants who, if requested, could provide such information but obviously at a price. Therefore, wouldn’t it be use-ful if such information was free of charge?

We are delighted to report that such a tool exists for the PVC indus-try and is downloadable from:www.ccalc.org.uk/pvcsustainability.php.

INEOS ChlorVinyls played a key part in the development of this tool, which was originally produced as a partnership from a Vinyl Sustain-

ability Network between academia (Loughborough and Manchester Universities) and the PVC industry.

The tool itself was developed by Professor Adisa Azapagic and her colleagues, University of Man-chester and is known as CCaLC; Carbon Calculations over the Life Cycle of Industrial Applications

CCaLC PVC provides a power-ful tool for reducing and managing carbon footprints of PVC products, processes or supply chains. The methodological approach follows the internationally accepted life cy-cle methodology as defined by ISO 14044 and PAS 2050.

The tool is relatively simple to use by non-experts and it comes with comprehensive databases, including the Ecoinvent database, whilst User-defined databases can also be added.

The tool has been designed to provide users with the ability to drill down into specific tasks within their own supply chain using a life cycle analysis approach. For example, it

can be used for a quick and easy as-sessment of environmental and eco-nomic sustainability of PVC prod-ucts and processes A few in-built worked examples already exist within the tool including: blood bags, win-dows, pipes and flooring; whilst ex-isting processes such as PVC produc-tion, compounding and recycling are also included.

It provides users with several oth-er environmental impacts as well as the ability for individual companies to insert costs, thereby providing the opportunity to assess ‘Value Added’ at each stage of manufacture.

cient and suitable for use in a myriad of forms an in countless products and materials.

It is encouraging to see what a genuine and transparent program of work is being followed through by the major producers to ensure it delivers on all of the above and that it is the very best it can be in envi-ronmental terms as well.

Beyond the facts and figures there were some new revelations for me as well. An example being the fact that the major PVC producer in question has invested in a new energy from waste plant that will take all the non-recyclable domes-

tic waste from the Manchester area and through leading-edge recovery technology, will divert this waste from land fill and instead convert it into the energy required to run their production unit. How impressive is that!

So you, the contractor, end up with great looking, best value floor-covering with unmatched creden-tials in terms of safety, air quality, hygiene and environmental ratings.

What lies beneath that end prod-uct are responsible manufacturers who are investing millions in devel-oping their manufacturing facilities and processes to be world-class, set-

ting up and funding schemes such as Recofloor and employing signifi-cant numbers of people in the UK and beyond.

There is doom and gloom about at the moment. For one day, at least, I had the time to reflect that the wider industry that we work in is actually doing a pretty good job at leading the way in making sure that the materials and the floorings we produce are making the best contri-bution they can to creating a more sustainable society.

Designer’s CO2 footprinting toolJason Leadbitter, [email protected]


New environmental product declarations available for PVC Pipes Steve [email protected]

To make a fair comparison be-tween different types of material you need to assess and compare all of the environmental impacts of the alter-native products from cradle to grave.

This “environmental footprint” of a product or service can be both adverse (in terms of creating green-house gas emissions whilst the prod-uct is being produced or disposed of at the end of its life); and beneficial (in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through saving energy whilst the product is in use).

A scientifically-based full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most widely accepted standardised method for fairly comparing all of the attrib-utes of a different product or services. LCA involves systematically collect-ing and evaluating quantitative data on the inputs and outputs of mate-rial, energy and waste flows associ-ated with a product over its entire life cycle.

LCA assessments are published in the form of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) that identify a product’s overall environmental im-pact through: the manufacturing of materials; the transforming into products; product transportation and installation; the product’s lifetime of use; and the product’s disposal at the end of life.

The European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association (TEPPFA) has commissioned the development of a set of independently verified EPDs covering the main uses of plastic pipe systems.

These Life cycle assessments were conducted by the internationally re-spected Flemish Institute for Techno-logical Research (VITO), following

ISO standard 14025 methodology. VITO’s findings were then indepen-dently validated by another respected sustainable development institute: Denkstatt GmbH in Austria.

The study involved collecting data on plastic pipe systems from compa-nies covering more than 50% of the European market. Data for com-parable alternative material piping systems (Concrete, Ductile Iron and Copper) was based on publicly avail-able data.

From this study, direct compari-sons have been made between three different types of PVC pipes and concrete pipes in non-pressure sew-age systems; and, for a range of other polymers, against relevant traditional materials for other piping applica-tions.

Results differed depending on the polymer but overall the study was conclusive in favour of plastic pipe systems. More detailed infor-mation about the EPDs can be ob-tained by contacting TEPPFA at: [email protected]

TEPPFA’s EPDs assess the environmental impact of PVC pipes against six different, full life cycle, criteria. 1) Abiotic depletion: the over-extraction of minerals, fossil fuels and other non-living, non-renewable materials that can lead to exhaustion of our natural resources. 2) Acidification potential: Emissions, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, from manufacturing processes result in acid rain that harms our soil, water supplies, human and animal organisms, and our

ecosystem. 3) Eutrophication potential: which results from of the over-fertilisation of water and soil by nutrients (such

as nitrogen and phosphorous). This speeds up plant growth and kills off animal life in lakes and waterways. 4) Global warming potential (carbon footprint): the insulating effect of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 and methane, in our atmosphere, is a major contributor to global warming, affecting our health and that of the ecosystem in which we live. 5) Ozone-depletion potential: depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere caused by the emission of chemical foaming and cleaning agents allows the passage of greater levels of UV from the sun, causing skin cancer and reducing crop yields. 6) Photochemical oxidation potential: where the photochemical reaction of sunlight with primary air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides leads to chemical smogs that affect our

health and that of our ecosystem and food crops.

Picture comp: Alpha RA


Software tool to ensure REACH compliance by recyclersChris [email protected]

When the European Commission developed its flagship REACH (Reg-istration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legis-lation, it is fair to say that they did not have plastics recycling in mind. As a result there was a danger that a technical noncompliance of recycling companies with the registration obli-gations of REACH would render all recycling of plastics in the EU illegal.

Fortunately a new software tool developed by EuPC (European Plas-tics converters), EuPR (European plastics Recyclers) Plastics Europe and the ECVM Vinyl 2010 project has not only ensured that recyclers can comply with the regulation, but they can use their compliance as a marketing tool.

REACH is one of the largest, most far reaching and ambitious pieces of legislation that the EU has ever devel-oped. Since chemicals are used every-where there are very few companies that have not been affected by it.

The aims were simple: ensure no chemical could be placed on the EU market in quantities over a tonne per year without a dossier detailing its properties, hazards and uses being submitted to a new EU Agency based in Helsinki, Finland. In submitting the dossier companies have to dem-onstrate that the uses of a chemical are safe. Since all of INEOS Chlor-Vinyls products are manufactured at high volumes, the required dos-siers are enormous. “The challenge is not just technical – getting all the information in place and evaluating manufacturing and uses - but also bureaucratic” says INEOS ChlorVi-nyls REACH manager Chris How-

ick. “The dossiers are so large that the EU requires them to be submitted in a recently developed software pack-age, so there is also the task of navi-gating around this. With our added complexity of being a multiple legal entity operation, with each legal enti-ty needing to submit its own dossier, the challenge was large, but thanks to the effort of all involved we had near-ly fifty dossiers accepted in 2010.”

There was one outstanding issue however. As the legislation developed, the status of recycling operations was changed from manufacturers of mix-tures to manufacturers of substances. This meant that recycling companies – who are usually very small – had to ensure they met a series of REACH obligations that apply to manufac-turers. The most challenging of these was the need to produce safety data sheets for their recyclates that could be passed on to their customers to en-sure that the recyclate was used safely. This would have required the recy-clers to know the precise composition of their incoming raw materials. “The fact that their raw material is waste, which by definition has an unknown composition, “says Chris Howick “made this impossible.” At first there was talk of detailed chemical analysis of each incoming truck but this was soon discounted as unsustainable.

What resulted was a detailed study – the SDS-R project, developed by trade associations of polymer manu-facturers, compounders and recyclers – that combines historical knowledge of feedstocks, the REACH status of the ingredients and a series of very conservative assumptions – and pro-duces by dedicated software a safety data sheet for the recycled com-pound. “In some cases” says Chris Howick “where the recycler is dealing with mixed waste, we assume it has all known hazardous ingredients in it and the safety data sheet reflects this. The more the recycler knows about the source, then fewer worst case as-sumptions need to be used. For ex-ample, if the recycler knows that the feedstock is recovered window profile or pipe, they need not assume it con-tains a plasticiser; if its food packag-ing, they need not assume it would contain lead or cadmium stabilisers.”

It has saved a fortune in analysis costs and there is one major bonus. The associations involved thought that for this system to work it would need to deal with the most complex polymer. Since this was PVC, this was the polymer used to develop it. So PVC recyclers know that they can use this with complete confidence and act as ambassadors in REACH compliance of recycled polymers.

Picture: Wavin Group


Roger [email protected]

The Applications Committee of the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM), commis-sioned a study on PVC cost competi-tiveness. The study was conducted by Althesys strategic consultants, based in Milan.

The study examined the ‘total cost of ownership’ (TCO) of PVC win-dows, flooring and pipes as compared to functional equivalent alterna-tives in each application. Total Cost of Ownership takes into account all costs associated with a product over its entire life-cycle. It is a “customer centric” analysis that reveals the dif-ference between the purchase price of a product and its true lifetime cost.

Extensive data was obtained from public authorities, utility companies, construction and buildings mainte-nance companies. In order to manage the considerable scale of the task it was decided to obtain comprehensive data only from Germany and Italy, judged to be a fair representation of conditions in Northern and South-ern European countries.

In the area of flooring it was found that life-time cleaning and mainte-nance costs are the most significant cost element. PVC flooring with spe-

cial surface layers that require mini-mal cleaning and maintenance have been developed – which have a con-siderable positive influence on its life-cycle cost as compared to rival floor-ing materials.

The study concludes that PVC window frames are much less expen-sive over their life-cycle than either wood or aluminium.

The study also looked at pipes used to carry drinking water. Laying and installation costs were found to make up more than half of the total network lifetime costs. As PVC pipes are lightweight the handling is much safer, easier and less costly than tradi-tional rival materials such as iron or steel.

Although the study used Ger-man and Italian data there is good evidence that the favourable outcome for PVC products would be replicat-ed in other countries. For example, in the UK context the significant TCO savings identified for the PVC prod-ucts by the Althesys study are rather consistent with the savings identi-fied by studies from both Brighton and Hove Council (which examined the costs of PVC and alternatives for flooring, pipes, windows, doors and cables), and Stockton-on-Tees council (which examined PVC and alternative windows).

PVC cost competitiveness

Picture: Fotalia

Editorial team: Chris Howick ([email protected]); Jason Leadbitter ([email protected]);Roger Mottram ([email protected]); Steve Tan ([email protected]); Craig Welsh ([email protected])

The Vinyl Record Revival

Vinyl record sales have reached their highest level since 1991 according to Nielsen SoundScan in the USA, an industry information and sales track-ing system. 3.9 million units were sold in 2011 in the US, a 36.3 per-cent increase on 2010.Interviewed by a music magazine, one US record store owner commented that the increase in vinyl record sales had been at the expense of CDs. “There is a certain warmth to vinyl,” said one commentator. “The timbre of the sound is richer — it’s not as clean as a digital recording, but there is more depth to it.”The perceived “richer sound” of vinyl comes from its analog format, where the sound is recorded to the tape or disc as physical grooves or magnetic impulses. This contributes to the vi-nyl’s “warmness,” and ability to reflect the complete range of musical tones rather than just a digitised sample. Vinyl aficionados don’t like the sterile sound quality of digital, they hate the ‘compression’ of mp3s and appreciate the whole romance of the vinyl re-cord, which provides a more tangible experience allowing the owner to lit-erally ‘feel’ the music they’re listening to.

Picture: Fotalia

PVC Future is published by INEOS ChlorVinyls Limited. All content is the intellectual property of INEOS ChlorVinyls Limited unless otherwise listed. All rights reserved. Forwarding or reproduction of this publication or parts thereof, regardless of reason or form, is not permitted without the explicit written authorisation of INEOS.

summer 2012 / issue 1 - ineos · summer 2012 / issue 1. ineos chlorvinyls limited, runcorn site hq,...

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