Canadian Vinyl Industry Advocating for Collaborative Approach at Upcoming UNEP INC-4 Negotiations in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ON, April 17, 2024 /CNW/ - Canadian vinyl industry leaders along with United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) delegates from around the world will attend the fourth session (INC-4) negotiations towards a global treaty on plastic pollution from April 23-29^th, at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Canada.

Supporting a balanced approach to increase vinyl recyclability

During INC-4, the Vinyl Institute of Canada (VIC) is advocating that the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and governments world-wide work with industry to achieve global targets for reducing plastics pollution. "The VIC has worked collaboratively and successfully with ECCC for over twenty years on both environmental protection and recycling programs. We have proven together that the collaboration model works to tackle and reduce pollution much faster with this approach" said Aiñe Curran, President, and CEO of the association.

Vinyl products serve three key sectors in society: Health care, Housing and Water Supply, and are durable products; meaning the products carry extensive life cycles such as PVC windows (30-40 years), underground watermain pipe (100+ years), and building and construction products (20+ years).

PVC is 100% recyclable and the industry, globally, operates advanced recycling programs by collecting and converting end-of-life PVC products and reusing them again in the same products or into new recycled applications  such as soundproofing, garden products, and commercial and industrial products.

PVC 123 : As the First Medical PVC Recycling program in Canada,  the PVC 123 program collects Intravenous bags, oxygen masks, and tubing from hospitals. The program was developed through a collaborative partnership between the vinyl industry and Environment and Climate Change Canada to build recycling infrastructure for hospitals. To date, there are thirty-five hospitals registered in the program which will officially scale province-wide in Ontario in April 2024. Curran goes on to say "Hospitals embrace PVC 123 and so do we...it great for the environment and hospital morale…our sights are set on Quebec as the next province to develop recycling infrastructure where we are currently on-boarding our first hospital in Gatineau, Quebec.

Recycling of vinyl window profiles is a robust industry in Europe and is the next sector of recycling infrastructure the VIC and its partners are aiming to develop in Canada with plans to launch the pilot program "Win-Finity" in the fall of 2024. Vinyl windows accelerate the adoption of energy efficient technologies, key to meeting GHG targets.

Vinyl products have contributed to reduced carbon emissions for decades through "lightweighting" technologies. Transportation being one of the largest applications going back decades saw plastics replace metals in cars, airplanes, and public transit allowing various modes of transportation to burn less fuel, carry more passengers, and help more Canadians to overcome the geographical challenges in all parts of the country and around the world. The vinyl industry is looking forward to working with UNEP and government delegates from around the world during INC-4 to support the development of workable solutions to ending plastic pollution.

About the Vinyl Institute of Canada - The Vinyl Institute of Canada advocates on behalf of the vinyl industry in Canada by forming strategic alliances between government and industry to identify and solve issues which advance manufacturing standards in all applications that serve the public, industrial, and commercial sectors across Canada. For more information https://vinylinstituteofcanada.com

SOURCE The Vinyl Institute of Canada - Institut du vinyle du Canada

Media Contact: Marc Duchesne, [email protected], 514-277-3508