The Vinyl Council of Australia’s hugely-successful hospitals’ recycling scheme has been shortlisted in the Circular Economy category of the Banksia Foundation Awards 2017.

From its earliest beginnings in 2009, the scheme has overcome challenges to embrace more than 80 hospitals in Australia and 28 in New Zealand. IV bags, face masks and oxygen tubing are collected and recycled by two Vinyl Council members Baxter (multinational and Australian-based manufacturer of IV bags) and Welvic (Australian compounder).

Significant investment and commitment by these two companies and the Council has helped the PVC Recycling in Hospitals scheme to flourish and divert quality PVC from landfill into durable, locally-manufactured products. These include industrial and garden hose in Australia and children’s playground mats in New Zealand, which are exported to Australia and around the Pacific.

It is also being replicated round the world. For example, in the UK 11 hospitals are participating in the growing RecoMed PVC recycling scheme with high-quality medical grade plastic being recycled into horticultural products.

The Vinyl Council’s PVC Recycling Project Manager, Helen Millicer said: “We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for this sustainability award. In terms of significance, this Australian initiative shows that quality material from hospitals can be safely recovered and reprocessed to become durable, locally-made product in Australia and in other parts of the world.

“There is no limit to the demand for this high-quality material as a substitute for virgin in Australia and New Zealand. It’s a great step forward in terms of sustainability for PVC and the environment. It’s a valuable raw material resource that can be given a useful ‘second life’ in new products and that’s good news all round!”

The scheme is aiming to recycle a total of 2,500 tonnes per year throughout Australia. Currently, monthly PVC quantities from both hospitals and home patients (Australia & New Zealand) produces enough for 95 km of garden hose or 4500 cushioned play mats for children’s playgrounds. This displaces 14 tonnes a month of imported PVC resin and additives, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with the PVC in new products by 80 percent.

Winners will be announced at the Banksia Awards ceremony in Sydney on 1 November.

Imaginative end product concepts for using waste PVC advertising banners have been displayed at Waste Expo Australia, a business-to-business exhibition for waste, recycling and sustainability in Australia.

Roof shingles, pallet slip sheets, floor tiles and a design for a water storage/seat for garden drip irrigation were among the inspirational ideas presented by Monash University at the event, held from 11 to 12 October 2017 in Melbourne.

The designs were created after the Vinyl Council successfully obtained funding from the NSW Environment Trust to identify ways to reprocess advertising billboard skins and find potential end markets for the recyclate.

Currently around 500 tonnes of this material are disposed to landfill each year, as well as larger quantities of grain covers and truck tarpaulins totalling around 5,000 tonnes per year.

Commenting on the designs, Vinyl Council Chief Executive Sophi MacMillan said: “A series of workshops and forums with the Outdoor Media industry, Monash University, UNSW and manufacturers have delivered excellent results.

“As well as producing some fabulous ideas for recycled PVC, the concepts reflect perfectly the Waste Expo principles of ‘Where today’s waste becomes tomorrow’s future’.”

Other ideas for using the reprocessed material include a woven fabric for should bags, skateboard skins and sound attenuation barriers.

Finding solutions to reprocessing the waste PVC involved close collaboration between industry associations, manufacturers, industrial designers and chemical engineers.

“As a priority recycling area, we are very encouraged by these early results,” added Sophi. “A new reprocessing method has been identified, which is proceeding to international patent, and a low-cost reprocessing method has been identified for some suitable product, leading to 2 tonnes recycled material per month.”

Chemson Pacific Pty Ltd, a Vinyl Council of Australia member, demonstrated a world-first for 3DVinyl™ material by 3D-printing a giant flower vase using a pellet-fed 3D-printer designed by Titan Robotics USA.

Titan Robotics had joined Chemson representatives at Rapid 3D, a 3D-printing exhibition in Pittsburgh, USA where it took three hours to print the 14kg vase. It’s a first for 3DVinyl™ in that all 3D-printing work conducted so far with vinyl, or PVC, has so far been with filament-fed machines.

Since unveiling their technological breakthrough in May 2016, Chemson Group, worldwide leaders in the PVC stabilizer additives industry, has been working on changes to the material’s thermoplastic PVC formulation. These include improvements to the Z-axis interlayer adhesion, impact resistance and thermal stability.

Speaking after the May 2017 exhibition,  Greg Harrison, Specialist for Chemson on Additive Manufacturing materials and 3DVinyl™ co-inventor comments: “We have some more formulation adjustments to do, which will shortly be completed, but overall we have demonstrated that 3DVinyl™ PVC has a place in the industrial Advanced Manufacturing world of 3D-printable polymers.”

A short video of the vase during the 3D-printing process can be seen here.

Dr J.-Dieter Klamann, MD of Chemson Pacific Pty Ltd and 3DVinyl™ co-inventor adds: “Everybody is working on the printing speed factor…but - if you look closely at the complexity of the shapes, the biggest breakthrough is that they cannot be made by any other process!”

Excited by their success, Dieter and his fellow co-inventors, Greg and Dennis Planner, 3DVinyl™ Product Manager say it ‘shows a clear way forward for the industry’.

“After this initial success of having a printable version of PVC in the form of 3DVinyl™, the international Chemson team is currently undertaking concerted efforts to adapt PVC’s well-established unique potential and versatility for applications in the 3D Printing/AM world,” says Dieter. “These new PVC products will be introduced step-by-step into the 3DP community after basic 3D printability is assessed in our rigorous pre-tests.”

Welcoming enquiries from interested parties, Dennis adds: “We hope to engage and collaborate with industry to help us further improve the current formulation within the context of industrial and product manufacturing use cases that can’t be effectively emulated in our lab and previous field testing environments.”

Chemson plans to offer 3DVinyl™ in both filament and pellet form to cover a wider array of 3D printers and applications.

The Vinyl Council is delighted to welcome a recently new member.

• FireSense P/L, based in Norwest NSW. FireSense specialises in the design & supply of Fire Alarm Systems & Fire Rated Cable to Installers, Wholesalers & Service companies.
• Redox Ltd,  based in Mintobased in Rocklea, QLD they manufacture in their Brisbane based factory high quality Versatex PVC sheet NSW and provide chemicals, ingredients, and raw materials. 
• Dura Systems P/L, based in Rocklea, QLD they manufacture in their Brisbane based factory high quality Versatex PVC sheet.
• Duromer Products P/L,  based in Prestons, NSW and are an Australian manufacturer and supplier of thermoplastic polymers and compounds to the plastics industry. 
• Orchard Lane Enterprises P/L, based in St Georges Terrace, WA, is led by Manager Dean, who brings extensive experience from the PVC Industry in South Africa. The company is eager to delve deeper into the PVC industry and its recycling processes, and contribute to sustainable practices.

•  Orgadata Australia P/L, based in Brisbane and are creators of Logikal which is the software package that helps digitise production of windows, doors, and curtain walls.

• APS Double Glazing,  based in Kilsyth VIC and are a manufacturer & installer of high performance UPVC double glazing windows & doors in Melbourne & Sydney. 
• Astellite Pty Ltd,  based in Dandenong VIC and are an acclaimed window manufacturer who make custom made windows and sliding glass doors.

The Vinyl Council truly represents the vinyl value chain in Australia, acting as the collective voice for the industry and working to enhance the industry's opportunities for growth and sustainable development.

See a full list of Council members here.

To inquire about membership, call 03 9510 1711 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.