Lahl U., Zeschmar-Lahl B. (2024): More than 30 Years of PVC Recycling in Europe — Need for Regulation. Sustainability 2024, 16 (12), 4891. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16124891
May 9, 2024
The article by Prof. Dr. habil. Uwe Lahl and Dr. Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl on the topic „More than 30 Years of PVC Recycling in Europe — A Critical Inventory“ has been published in the Special Issue of Sustainability: Resources and Waste Management (Sustainability 2024, 16, 3854).
PVC is the mass plastic to which the most diverse and quantitatively largest number of additives are added. This makes PVC difficult to recycle. In the 1980s, the PVC industry announced its commitment to improve the sustainability of the material through material recycling. But after three decades, the recycling result is rather meagre. The majority of PVC waste in Europe is still going to waste-to-energy plants. The many attempts to end the chlorine cycle via waste incineration and to expand chemical recycling in parallel have not been successful. The main reasons are the quantity and variety of additives, legacy chemicals (legacy additives), and economic interests.
At the end of 2023, the European Chemicals Agency ECHA presented an “Investigation Report” about PVC following a request of the EU Commission. In a further article, the authors analyse the regulatory consequences from their point of view. This article is currently in the review process and can be viewed and commented on at preprints.org.
Below you will find a link to download the article, to the Special Issue with further interesting articles, and to the second article under review.
Lahl U., Zeschmar-Lahl B. (2024): More than 30 Years of PVC Recycling in Europe — A Critical Inventory. Sustainability 2024, 16 (9), 3854. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093854
Lahl U. (1986): Bielefeld – eine PVC-freie Zone? In: Dokumentation des PVC-Hearings “Gefährden PVC-Produkte die Umwelt?” 22.10.1986, Hrsg.: Stadt Bielefeld, S. 4-5
April 30, 2024
The contractors were N3 Nachhaltigkeitsberatung Dr. Friege & Partner, Voerde (project management), and the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), Wuppertal, as well as BZL GmbH and Akademie Dr. Obladen, Berlin, as subcontractors. The final report on the project was published on the Federal Environment Agency’s website at the end of April 2024:
Friege H., Heidbüchel E., Zeschmar-Lahl B.: Indicators for sustainable management of chemicals. Contributions to upcoming development work under the new Global Framework for Chemicals. Ed.: Umweltbundesamt.
Friege H., Heidbüchel E., Zeschmar-Lahl B.: Indicators for sustainable management of chemicals. Contributions to upcoming development work under the new Global Framework for Chemicals. Ed.: Umweltbundesamt. UBA-Texte 78/2024
Lahl U., Lechtenberg D., Zeschmar-Lahl B. (2024): Kunststoffrecycling und gefährliche Stoffe – RISK CYCLE. (Plastics recycling and hazardous substances – RISK CYCLE). Müll und Abfall 4, 195–204
Article (in German) based on the first publication in Abfallwirtschaft und Energie 1 ( 2024)
April 19, 2024
The updated article by Prof. Dr. habil. Uwe Lahl and his two co-authors on the topic of “Plastics recycling and hazardous substances – risk cycle” has been published in the journal Müll und Abfall 4, 2024.
The production of new plastic articles has become increasingly demanding in terms of polymers and additive formulations. Can the recycling of mixed packaging plastics even meet today’s requirements for new products? We believe this is illusory. An honest assessment of the performance of post-consumer (PC) recycling of plastic packaging (packaging sold vs. recyclates in new products) for Germany shows: The result of quantitative material recycling is rather meager (perhaps 20%) and the recycled products are of inferior quality. Due to the overwhelming amount of data on hazardous substances (“legacy additives”) in plastic recyclates, we recommend that they no longer be used in consumer-related products (children’s toys, food contact materials/packaging, interior products, textiles, etc.).
Below you will find a link to the order form at Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Lahl, U. (2023): Riskcycling – was mich mit Martin Führ verbindet. In: Julian Schenten, Bettina Brohmann, Rebecca Niebler (Hrsg.): Menschen und Moleküle in der Transformation – Festschrift für Martin Führ, sofia Berichte 2023, S. 64-65
Quelle: Dma wb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
March 25, 2024
We have been advising Wienerberger AG on the further development of its sustainability management for several years. This includes scientific advice on the preparation of the report on non-financial performance in accordance with the Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (NaDiVeG) and sustainability reporting in accordance with the GRI standard; this was also the case for the combined Annual and Sustainability Report 2023, which has been available for download on Wienerberger’s website since March 25, 2024.