Plasticisers

What are plasticisers?

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85% of all plasticisers consumed in Europe are used in flexible PVC applications.

Modern plasticisers (US: plasticizers) are similar and simultaneously different – constituting a wide range of chemistries and molecules, bringing high performance in a wide array of safe and sustainable applications. They are colourless and odourless liquids which cannot be treated as additives like pigments or fillers. Today, over 85% of all plasticisers consumed in Europe are used in flexible PVC applications, mainly for the construction, automotive and wire & cable sectors. They are, in fact, primary functional substances that transform the physical properties of PVC and other polymers creating a whole new world of flexible and durable finished articles for high-performing applications.

What are the benefits of plasticisers?

80 year life span

Plasticisers provide versatility, safety, performance, and durability to flexible PVC products. They give flexible PVC applications unmatched versatility, enabling superior performance, processability, and cost advantages in various applications such as cables, roof membranes, flooring, upholstery, blood bags/medical products, and technical textiles. For example cables made from PVC can last up to 80 years.

PVC recycling

Another advantage of PVC cables is that they can be easily recycled. Thanks to the VinylPlus voluntary programme set up in the year 2000 by European vinyl producers, close to 100,000 tonnes of end-of-life cables are recycled every year. Since, the start of the programme an impressive 8.1 million tonnes of PVC has been recycled in total[1].

2024 Vinyl Plus Report