Vinyl Institute Announces Recipients of VIABILITY Recycling Grant Funding

The program, designed to advance post-consumer PVC recycling, chose four submissions to fund.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Vinyl Institute (VI), a U.S. trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl, today announced its third round of funding to four organizations totaling nearly $740,000 through its VIABILITYtm recycling grant program. This brings the total dollar amount committed thus far to nearly $1.67 million ? all thanks to generous contributions from four PVC resin producers (Formosa, Oxy, Shintech, and Westlake). The third round of VIABILITY recycling grant recipients includes Oligomaster, Exeon Processors LLC, PolyJoule, and Allied Industries.

"We are proud of these four new VIABILITY grantees whose efforts will help increase post-consumer PVC recycling," said Ned Monroe, president and CEO of the VI. "Our industry has committed over $1.67 million so far to sixteen projects to grow progress on PVC recycling. We encourage problem-solvers and forward-thinkers to apply to our next round of VIABILITY."

VIABILITY grants support the purchase of equipment, advanced recycling, research and development, educational programs, and program management for long-lasting and sustainable recycling of PVC products. The vinyl industry's goal is to accelerate post-consumer vinyl recycling to 160 million pounds by 2025.

The four individual VIABILITY grant recipients include:

• Oligomaster (Hamilton, ON): Oligomaster, a polymer product development and research company will use the grant funding in collaboration with Polyloop to establish a modular advanced recycling process that will enable 100% recovery of flexible vinyl materials and the production of high-quality secondary raw materials including dry-blend PVC, polyester fibers and other additives.
• Exeon Processors LLC (Jonesboro, IN): Exeon is a recycling company focused on material recovery in the wire and cable industry. The company will use the grant funding to purchase specialized processing equipment that will allow separation of PVC from other plastics used in wire and cable insulation enabling recycling of millions of pounds of PVC materials per year.
• PolyJoule (Billerica, MA): PolyJoule is an energy storage company that is pioneering conductive polymer battery technology. The company will use the grant funding to demonstrate the feasibility of converting recycled PVC to conducting polymer chemistry for use in batteries, conductors, and other industrial applications.
• Allied Industries (Jonesville, SC): Allied Industries uses a unique manufacturing process to produce a commercial flooring product manufactured with 100% recycled vinyl. The company will use the grant funding to purchase automated equipment that will enable them to increase the quantity of vinyl recycled by several million pounds per year.

Applications for the fourth round of VIABILITY are due February 9, 2024. For more information on VIABILITY, visit https://www.vinylinfo.org/recycling/.

About VIABILITY:
In January 2023, the Vinyl Institute launched VIABILITY, a first-of-its-kind, industry-wide recycling grant program aimed at accelerating post-consumer PVC recycling across the country. The grant program makes available up to $1 million in funds per year over the next three years from four PVC resin manufacturers in the U.S. (Formosa, Oxy, Shintech, and Westlake). Individual recycling grants issued through VIABILITY are available to qualifying industry collaborations such as trade associations, material recovery facilities, construction and demolition waste facilities, recyclers, or colleges and universities in amounts up to $500,000.

About The Vinyl Institute:
The Vinyl Institute (VI), founded in 1982, is a U.S. trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl, vinyl chloride monomer, vinyl additives, and modifiers. The VI works on behalf of its?members?to promote the benefits of?the world's most versatile plastic, used to make everything from PVC piping to flooring, roofing and vinyl siding. The vinyl industry in the United States employs over 350,000 highly skilled employees at nearly 3,000 facilities and generates an economic value of $54 billion. For more information, visit?vinylinfo.org.

For more information, contact [email protected]

Media Contact

Gil Connolly, The Vinyl Institute, 2026644036, [email protected], vinylinfo.org

SOURCE The Vinyl Institute