The Vinyl Institute (VI), a U.S. trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl, has announced its fourth round of funding. Three organizations received nearly $332,000 in total through its VIABILITY recycling grant program. This brings the total dollar amount committed thus far to over $2 million—all thanks to generous contributions from four PVC resin producers (Formosa, Oxy, Shintech and Westlake). The fourth round of VIABILITY recycling grant recipients includes the Chemical Fabrics and Films Association (CFFA), Every Shelter and the University of Michigan.
“The VIABILITY recycling grant program was introduced to accelerate the development of new technologies and capacity to recycle post-consumer PVC,” said Ned Monroe, president and CEO of the VI. “The three newest recipients of funding are representative of a broad spectrum of opportunities to keep this valuable material out of the landfill and in productive use in society. We are proud that the program is helping us to achieve our recycling goals.”
VIABILITY grants support the purchase of equipment, advanced recycling, research and development, educational programs, and program management for long-lasting and sustainable recycling of PVC products. The vinyl industry’s goal is to accelerate post-consumer vinyl recycling to 160 million pounds by 2025.
The three individual VIABILITY grant recipients include:
- CFFA (Cleveland): CFFA, a global trade association representing manufacturers of fabrics and film made from polymers, will use the grant to fund the cost of recycling coordinators to continue to build out their roof recycling infrastructure. They will also raise awareness with building owners for future recycling opportunities.
- Every Shelter (Houston): Every Shelter is a nonprofit organization that repurposes vinyl billboards to provide shelter for refugees in displacement camps in the Middle East and East Africa. Every Shelter received a first round of VIABILITY funding to develop a proof of concept for a business model to repurpose used vinyl billboards for disaster relief victims in the United States. Every Shelter will use this round of funding to move from proof-of-concept to self-sustainability while diverting 450,000 lbs. of PVC from landfills and assisting 12,500 disaster victims.
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.): The University of Michigan’s Department of Chemistry will use funds to continue their research in advanced recycling of PVC through electrochemical conversion of PVC. The electrochemical solvent based technology has potential both as a dechlorination step for mixed plastic scenarios and for difficult to recycle multilayer products like wire and cable and LVT flooring.
Applications for the fifth round of VIABILITY are due Sept. 6, 2024.
