Foam PVC : Environmental considerations and information

Foam PVC board is similar to Rigid PVC sheet. It is made from foamed PVC to make it lighter than Rigid PVC. Foam PVC is available in a variety of colours

Various sizes of Foam Board are available in thicknesses from 1mm to 19mm

Foam PVC is generally made from virgin materials, although some process off-cuts may be re-introduced to the extrusion process

Points to consider when selecting Foam PVC Board

Reduce with foam PVC board

Foam PVC boards are approximately half the weight of Rigid PVC. For 6mm thick Foam PVC the weight is in the region of 1.5kg/m2 and 4.5kg/m2. Like Rigid PVC a threefold increase in thickness increases the weight by three, whereas Ultra Board only increases 40% when the thickness is increased by three.

Re-use of foam PVC board

Like Rigid PVC there are many applications where plain sheets of Foam PVC can be re-used

Recycle and recycle-ability of foam PVC board

Foam PVC can be recycled although collection systems are not as well established as paper recovery systems at end user level. Where collection systems are developing at Sign and print company level care is often required in material segregation, as some substrate manufacturers will only accept return of their own products.

Recovery is clearly improving as a number of Recycled PVC Board products are appearing.

If recycling is not an option, Landfill tax can be expensive given the weight of Foam PVC, but it is an improvement on Rigid PVC