Yes, You Can Recycle PVC in Ohio. Here’s How.

We might be biased since we live here, but in our opinion, the State of Ohio has one of the most beautiful and underrated landscapes in the country. From our Great Lake to the Ohio River, from rolling foothills and stunning state and national parks to diverse metropolitan communities, Ohio truly is “The Heart of It All” (a tagline we’re grateful to have back).

In order to keep this place beautiful, we need to take collective steps to accelerate environmental initiatives that can protect our natural resources and preserve our future. 

Return Polymers is thrilled to be part of that solution, and we’re especially excited to invite you into it.

PVC Recycling in Ohio

There’s no question that PVC waste is a problem that we don’t want to hand down to our children and their children. To combat this issue, Return Polymers has been in the business of recycling vinyl siding, trim,  pipe, and decking (among other materials) for over 30 years.

In 2021, The Full Circle Recycling program was launched to capture job site trim scrap and return it to our recycling centers. Now, we’ve added another collection method—the large bin format—to the Full-Circle PVC Recycling program to make recycling PVC, saving on landfill costs, and getting new building materials easier than ever before. 

What Is Full-Circle PVC Recycling?

The goal of the program is to gather as much PVC scrap, independent of size, as possible in our home state and keep landfills PVC-clean.

The Full-Circle PVC Recycling program large bin format was introduced in April 2023 in order to address the larger standard sizes typical of building and construction scrap, like vinyl siding. Over half of the initially deployed bins have already made their way back to Return Polymers to be emptied and sent back out to our program participants. 

Once the scraps are gathered and returned to one of our Return Polymers processing centers, our team goes to work converting the PVC scrap back into new, usable, durable, long-life building materials for wood-alternative decking applications and other wood-alternative building products. 

This process can—and will—divert millions of pounds of landfill-bound PVC and send it back into the supply chain.

How Full-Circle PVC Recycling Works

We’ve done everything we can to make the Full-Circle PVC Recycling program as hands-off for our channel, construction, and collection partners as possible. We work with our partners to determine the appropriate size and options for bin collection, to save our partners money and make the most efficient choice for their business’ recycling needs. 

The latest bins being deployed are utilizing the latest technology to track bins and define the current bins status. This way, Return Polymers is aware that the partner’s bin is full of scrap PVC and ready to be collected without the partner ever having to make a call.

From there, we utilize local carriers who, pulling our flatbed with an integral moffett, loads and unloads the bins at the partner’s location. Return Polymers handles the collection logistics and transporting the scrap PVC back to our facility in Ashland, Ohio, where we reprocess waste polymer materials into new sustainable and long-lived products, like wood-alternative decking, siding, cladding, and trim.  

Builders who partner with us can experience the Full-Circle Recycling program first-hand by picking up their new building materials for their projects at the same time they are recycling their scrap.

Become a Return Polymers Full-Circle Partner

The Full-Circle PVC Recycling program is available all across the state, from Cleveland all the way to Cincinnati and everywhere in between. We want to grow this program so that, together, we keep as much PVC scrap as possible out of our landfills.

Our bins collect vinyl siding, PVC trim, and PVC pipe. If you are in Ohio and looking to recycle your rigid PVC, contact Return Polymers at recycling@azekco.com to see if this program is the right fit for you.