What to do with used PVC from automobiles has long been a source of debate. As environmental concerns intensified, France’s La Chaize Environnement took action, with the support of the Autovinyl Association, to create Pévétex®.
The result: a novel way to recycle soft PVC reinforced with textile fibres, typically used in auto interior parts such as dashboards and sun visors.
After several years of research, chemical engineer Bernard Chaize discovered how to recycle the two materials together. Pévétex® was born.
“I wanted to preserve the integrity of the PVC-coated textile in order to ensure its durability in its recycled form,” says Bernard. ‘’It took a lot of trial and error, but I made it !”
The procedure is a fusion of PVC and fibre scrap. Cutting the material at a reduced speed, with a particular temperature profile accompanied by cooling, overheating and melting are avoided. It’s a low-cost process, compared with other, pricier solutions like cryogenics or dissolution.
That way, the fibres are coated by the PVC in the form of 3 to 4 mm pellets, ready for transformation into a new material. Pévétex® can be injected, calendared and extruded. It can be used in a mix or as an additive, according to the specific application required strength.
Through the sorting of coloured scrap, the recycled products can have different tints. The versatility of Pévétex® allows it to be used in footwear, such as shoe soles, trolley wheels, containers, industrial floor coverings and outdoor furniture.
Making this secondary raw material gives a new life to 800 tonnes of PVC scrap every year.
Bernard’s method was novel enough to get patented. In the recycling world, he’s now nicknamed as the clever cartoon character “Geo trouve tout.”
