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A & B Grade of PVC
Since mid-last year, Recovinyl has introduced different grades within the concept of collection of post-consumer PVC. Since then, the waste quality is split into two different categories: grade A and grade B.
Although officially not used in its external communication towards the authorities, Recovinyl differentiates the short-life (A grade) and long-life (B grade) material. The level of incentives for these two categories of material is different. It was required to differentiate the incentive level for the good quality material (frequently mixed with the post-industrial waste streams) returning from the installation process.
It is up to the recycler to estimate the percentage of A grade material within the incoming waste stream. The Recovinyl"s auditors during their control will check the documents and perform a spot - check to inspect the defined percentages.
In case of any doubts, if your company is not sure which grade of waste it is that you possess and how your shipment will be classified, you are always welcome to contact us in order to clarify the situation.
How to recognise the different grades of PVC waste:
A Grade
is from appearance more mono-stream like, almost pure material, usually quite clean, mono-colour and not much present in general waste streams. This waste stream is mainly present at the professional users level like: installers, window makers or furniture producers.
As an example the following material can be accepted as an A grade PVC waste:
- Scraps from installations of window frames
- Flexible composite material (consisting of two or more different materials)
- Cladding installation material
- Scrap material from installation of roller shutters:
B Grade
PVC consists of more mixed material, different as well in application as in colour. The waste is usually dirty (products at the end-of-life cycle), full of mud, filth and other contaminants. B grade is, generally speaking, the more contaminated and more mixed material. It requires additional conditioning efforts (extra sorting e.g.) to finalise the recycling process as well by the collector-sorter as by the recycler.