Recycling

Millions of pounds of post-consumer vinyl are recycled each year, and some one billion pounds or more are recycled at the post-industrial level (for example, scrap and trim from manufacturing). Many finished vinyl building and construction products contain some amount of recycled content. Overall, more than 99 percent of all manufactured vinyl compound ends up in a finished product, due to widespread post-industrial recycling.

Vinyl containers or rigid blister packaging can be identified by the “3″ symbol as specified by The Society of the Plastics Industry coding system, now law in 39 states. A vinyl container can also be identified by the “smile” or “slash” mark found on its bottom side. These markings can be used by consumers to easily sort plastics for curbside collection.

The vinyl industry has a history of supporting recycling, and this effort continues as companies, alone and through their trade associations, expand existing programs and explore new opportunities to recover vinyl products at the end of their useful life. Product take-back programs are one example, where used products can be returned to the manufacturer to be recycled into the same product for another useful life.

Once recycled, vinyl can be reused in such applications as packaging, pipe, siding, parking stops, floor tiles, notebook covers, traffic cones and more. A study conducted by the University of Toledo in 1989 identified nearly 100 potential applications for recycled vinyl.