The Southern African Vinyls Association (SAVA) recently hosted the biannual meeting of the Global Vinyls Council (GVC) on 21 October this year in Sandton. A hugely successful Vinyls SA 2014 Conference was then held on the following day.

At the conference, a full and varied programme of original papers was presented to more than 100 delegates attending. Topics covered all aspects of polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – from formulation through to recovery and recycling.

International flavour
The GVC meets twice a year to share information and pertinent updates with business associates all over the world, and to touch base with its members, according to SAVA’s CEO, Delanie Bezuidenhout.
As a member of the GVC since 2011, SAVA shares its objectives of building an awareness of the many advantages of vinyl, correcting misinformation concerning products’ safety, and defending the local industry.
Bezuidenhout adds, “Being part of the GVC has allowed us to be part of an international network of experts that encourage knowledge transfer and international cooperation.”

An African first
“Since this was the first time the Council has met on African soil, its members were excited to visit our beautiful country. They were also keen to learn from each other’s best practices and experiences, and share ideas,” says Bezuidenhout.
Peter Willis, senior associate of the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, delivered the opening address. He reminded the conference delegates of the reasons why global society is placing increasingly stringent demands on a widening range of products, including PVC, and will continue to do so far into the future.

“All industries are having to adapt to powerful new environmental, social and economic constraints. This conference highlights the interesting fact that PVC is by nature a potentially troublesome substance, if poorly managed. Thankfully, however, the global PVC industry has taken up the challenge of making sure it is managed safely. In doing so, it has solved problems many other industries have yet to face,” Willis said.

Rishi Madho of Sasol was the second keynote speaker, and delivered a paper entitled, “ The South African PVC Industry” in which he highlighted the growth, challenges and opportunities facing the local vinyls sector.

The rest of the day’s presentations were divided into three sessions where local and international experts stood up on the dais and shared their experiences and expertise.

Bezuidenhout concluded, “Today’s conference was a huge success and an important step in establishing South Africa as one of the leaders on the international stage. Although we might be geographically far removed from the rest of the global PVC leaders, it has become clear that South Africa is facing the same challenges. We have much to learn from each other, and it is only through idea sharing that we will be able to continuously develop the industry in order to meet the challenges of business, innovation and sustainability”.