PVC (PVC)

PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, a thermoplastic polymer in which roughly 57% of the molecular mass is chlorine. PVC is the third most-produced plastic globally and appears across Indian e-waste in cable insulation, computer housing trim, refrigerator door seals, washing-machine hoses, and the outer jacketing of almost every flexible electrical wire. In plastic recycling lines, PVC is treated less as a recyclable resin and more as a contaminant that must be excluded.

The chlorine problem: When PVC is heated above 200-250 degC during melt extrusion, granulation, or unintended high-friction shredding, the polymer dehydrochlorinates and releases hydrogen chloride gas. Hydrogen chloride immediately corrodes steel screws, dies, and process pipework, shortening extruder service life from several years to a few months. In an open or uncontrolled thermal process — burning cable insulation to recover copper, for instance — incomplete combustion produces polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, among the most toxic synthetic compounds known. India has tightened restrictions on cable-burning under the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016.

Identification and separation: Modern recycling lines exclude PVC using a near-infrared (NIR) sorter that recognises its distinct spectral fingerprint at roughly 1,720 nm and 2,300 nm. A second-pass X-ray fluorescence (XRF) check detects residual chlorine above 200 ppm — the typical threshold for PVC contamination in PET or PE bales. Manual sorters use a hot-needle test: a heated copper wire pressed onto suspect plastic, then held in a flame; PVC produces a bright green copper-chloride flame.

Downstream routes: Clean post-industrial PVC (window-profile offcuts, cable jacketing from a single source) is mechanically recycled into floor tiles, garden hose, and shoe soles. Mixed e-waste PVC has very limited recycling value in India and is typically routed to a TSDF or used as a chlorine source in cement-kiln co-processing under tight feed-rate controls to manage dioxin emissions.