Polyvinyl Chloride, or PVC as it’s better known, is pretty amazing. In the past it’s had a bad rap but things have most definitely moved on and we wouldn’t be without it, for good reason.
Between 40% and 45% of a vinyl Altro flooring product is made of PVC. It’s like the ideal athlete; tough, durable, light-weight and flexible. It’s ideal for creating a range of flooring products, such as ours, that are suitable for every sort of indoor environment.
Our use of PVC isn’t limited to our flooring; Altro wall cladding is constructed with PVCu, otherwise known as rigid PVC. This helps make Altro Whiterock hygienic wall cladding and our Altro Fortis wall, door and corner protection system, robust, scuff-resistant and easy-to-clean, providing the protection needed across a wide range of applications.
Taking responsibility
We’ve taken steps to help make sure the PVC we use is produced and recycled responsibly. Our products are completely free from ortho-phthalate-free plasticisers, a substance used in PVC to make it flexible. We use a bio-plasticiser from a renewable resource; European-grown maize. We've also operated a zero-waste-to-landfill policy at our Letchworth site since 2007.
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about Vinyl Plus.
Altro are members of VinylPlus, a programme driving the sustainable development of the European PVC industry. This is a voluntary scheme with members including non-governmental organisations, regulators, public representatives, manufacturers and users of PVC. The scheme has been recognised by the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development.
VinylPlus say: “PVC is a preferred material in terms of quality, value and environmental safety. It helps others to reach their sustainability goals and is seen as a safe material providing convenience, comfort and high social value as well as having good sustainability credentials. This has been achieved by leadership and commitment from the industry, itself working
with others in an open and honest way".
By 2015, VinylPlus had recycled over half a million tonnes of PVC waste and between 2000 and 2010, established a sustainable European PVC recycling scheme and phased out heavy metal additives.
Aside from allowing us to develop the flooring that you know and trust, there are other reasons that PVC is a vital component of our products: