TEPPFA Members are committed to keeping plastic pipe products and materials at their highest utility therefore contributing to an economy that is regenerative by intention and design.
To support TEPPFA members in achieving their sustainability objectives, TEPPFA conducted a study with Ecoinnovazione to reach a common understanding for the EU plastic pipes and fittings sector on potential “eligible activities” and “alignment” with EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities. Click here to access the Taxonomy Guidelines for the EU Plastic Pipes and Fittings industry and here to access the Executive Summary.
Plastic pipe manufacturers have been committed to recycling and reuse from the early days when plastic pipes were put on the market more than 70 years ago. Today the majority of the plastic pipes recycled feedstock volumes go into high quality below ground stormwater and sewage pipes as well as cable ducts without compromising on the adequate performance for the particular application.
TEPPFA supports the Circular Plastics Alliance Declaration to increase the uptake of recycled material into new products including plastic pipes.
Various technologies are available and widely used on the market, especially for sewage and stormwater pipes but also cable conduits. The recycled material is either being mixed with virgin material or coextruded in the middle layer of the plastic pipe.
TEPPFA members are committed to ambitious programmes to boost the collection and recycling of plastic pipe waste and investing in recycling technologies.
Manufacturing waste, installation cut-offs and postconsumer PVC, PE and PP pipes at the end of their service life of sometimes 100 years or more can easily be mechanically recycled.
Mechanical recycling includes grinding, washing and sorting of the plastic waste without changing the basic structure of the material.
Chemical, or feedstock, recycling refers to innovative technologies where plastic waste is converted into valuable chemicals, to be used as feedstock by the chemical industry. Chemical recycling is a recovery option for difficult to recycle composite pipe waste.