Enhancing PVC Recycling: The Waste Recycling Project (WREP)as a Model for Sustainable Waste Management
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47363/JEESR/2026(8)281Keywords:
Waste Management, PVC Recycling, EPR Schemes, Circularity Models, Detection and Sorting of Contaminants, Near- Infrared Hyperspectral Technology (NIR), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) SpectroscopyAbstract
The Waste Recycling Project (WREP), launched in 2016 by PVC Forum/VinylPlus Italia (the Italian association of the PVC value-chain) and
VinylPlus® (the European PVC industry’s Commitment to sustainability), aims to improve PVC waste collection and recycling in Italy. This initiative
addresses the issue that less than half of PVC waste was being recycled due to challenges like scattered collection points and small-scale recyclers
facing complex regulations. WREP targets the recycling of PVC waste from bulky urban waste at municipal collection centres in northern and central
Italy, in partnership with multi-utilities and recyclers.
In 2023, the project expanded to include PVC from demolition and renovation activities, with new partnerships and systems for collecting and
recycling PVC from construction-related items like windows and pipes.
Furthermore, WREP has advanced the development of portable devices to sort PVC from other plastics and to detect substances no more allowed
today but still present in old PVC applications (the so-called legacy additives). In 2021, a handheld detector using near-infrared hyperspectral (NIR) technology was introduced, reducing PVC contamination levels from 3% to under 1%. The software has been further developed to detect the presence of DEHP(Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) in post-consumer PVC.
In 2023, further feasibility studies showed that the XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy) technology could be applied to the detection of legacy
lead in PVC waste.
Based on the feasibility study, VinylPlus® has funded the design of a pilot plant aimed to test and implement XRF technology for industrial applications.
The WREP Project demonstrates that collaborative value-chain approaches combined with innovative sorting technologies provide a replicable bestpractice model for enhancing PVC recycling, supporting EPR implementation, and delivering environmental and economic benefits.