NEWS

The CEN Workshop on ‘Characterizing polyvinyl butyral (PVB) recyclates’ was kicked off on 12 April 2024. The public commenting phase on the draft CWA is now open.

Laminated glass is obtained by bonding glass layers using a polymeric interlayer. One polymer used as interlayer is polyvinyl butyral (PVB). Up to now, most of the post-consumer PVB material in laminated glass is incinerated or landfilled, and only 9 % are recycled in secondary uses. Recycling of PVB presents several difficulties related with the contents of glass, humidity, mixing of compositions and polymer optical degradation.

Another step on Europe’s path to circularity has been taken – and European standards have a key role to play. On 2 August 2022, the European Commission notified to CEN and CENELEC the new Standardization Request on plastics recycling and recycled plastics, in support of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy. The Standardization Request – welcomed by CEN and CENELEC Technical Boards – is the result of two intense years of cooperation with the European Commission and the relevant stakeholders.