Håkan Björnberg is Business Development Manager at Perstorp and also board member for PVC Forum. He explains:
– The idea to engage Bea Szenfeld was to demonstrate the material’s many possibilities in a positive way. And it worked – her creations received a lot of attention from both visitors and the press.

A versatile material
Re-use is an important concept for Bea Szenfeld, who enjoys working with diverse materials. This time the base material was plastic coated fabric from the Winter Olympics in Turin. But she also used material intended for plastic folders as well as PVC bands normally woven into rugs and discarded material that she found under manufacturing machines. After that, all she needed was a scalpel, a glue gun and a heat lamp to create three fantastic dresses with matching shoes.

– I want to show that everything that exists in our surroundings can be used in more than one way, says Bea Szenfeld.

The types of clothing usually associated with PVC are rainwear, and items normally associated with recycled PVC are playground surface material and soft street poles. 

Recycling rapidly increasing
PVC Forum works to spread a fair and objective view of PVC, and positive exposure from the press helps them to inform about the very successful work they do concerning sustainability as well.

– Nine years ago the European PVC industry joined together in a voluntary commitment – Vinyl 2010. One of our toughest goals was to increase recycling of PVC to 200 000 tons per year before 2010. In 2008 we were already up to 194 950 tons, so now we are considering even bolder goals for 2020, says Håkan Björnberg, adding that the industry are also voluntarily phasing out the use of lead in PVC. Perstorp’s micronized polyols make that possible.

– Our engagement in PVC Forum is important to us – we want to do our share to contribute to a sustainable society, Håkan Björnberg concludes.

PVC Forum is a sector group within the Swedish Plastics & Chemicals Federation.