Earth Day: Recycling Vinyl Products

By The Vinyl Institute

All types of vinyl products can be recycled and reprocessed into second-generation products. According to a 1999 study by Principia Partners, more than one billion pounds of vinyl were recovered and recycled into useful products in North America in 1997. About 18 million pounds of that was post-consumer vinyl diverted from landfills and recycled into second-generation products. 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 taken the lead in developing automated sorting technology that large-scale recycling operations can use to separate different plastics from each other more efficiently. These include systems developed by National Recovery Technologies , Nashville, Tenn.; ASOMA Instruments , Austin, Texas; and Magnetic Separation Systems, Nashville, Tenn. The vinyl industry has also sponsored pilot recycling programs to evaluate the success of these systems and to test the feasibility of expanded recycling of vinyl.

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.

Source: Vinyl Information Organization

Database: http://www.vinylinfo.org/database/vinyldata2

Denton Plastics Inc.
4427 Northeast 158th Avenue
Portland, OR
USA 97230

Phone: (800) 959-9945
Fax: (503) 252-5319
Website: www.denplas.com

Contact
Dennis Denton, President
Email: dhayes@denplas.com

Feature Article: Portland BizJournal

From Pacific Domes:
Mr. Dennis Denton,

Pacific Domes, Inc. is an Oregon Corporation based in Ashland, designing, manufacturing and installing custom event and shelter domes for our clients in the U.S. and internationally.

We utilize tons of vinyl for manufacturing dome covers and would like a cost-effective means of recycling the waste products. In the past, it seemed our inquiries in the industry made it cost-prohibitive to do so. Hopefully this has changed.

Given “Earth Day” is tomorrow, we’d like to revisit the possibility of an arrangement with your company to recycle our vinyl waste. Do you have any pick-up services in southern Oregon, or would we have to arrange shipping to your processing plant? Can we recycle for free or low-cost?

Here are some of the vinyl products generating waste:

• Canopy FS
• Canopy Plus
• Ferrari 502S
• Ferrari 502
• Green Cover
• Clear Marine Vinyl
• Ferrari 402
• Snyder
• Big Top
• Mehler Black Out

Thank you for your consideration in expediting this request.

Respectfully yours,
Asha Deliverance, President
for Pacific Domes, Inc.

Reply from Denton Industries:

Ms. Asha Deliverance, President, All your vinyl waste can be recycled. You can box up and ship it to us without charge, or when you accumulate at least 5,000# of vinyl waste, we’ll dispatch a truck to pick it up. Thank you.

Respectfully yours,
Dennis Denton, President
for Denton Industries, Inc.

Database: http://www.vinylinfo.org/database/vinyldata/