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Welcome to the PVC Committee of The Polymer Society

The PVC Committee's activities will be of interest to:

  • Those who are involved in any aspects of Polyvinyl Chloride through its life cycle and who wish to see the many unique properties of this versatile polymer to be exploited and developed to the full.

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  • Those who wish to know more about this extremely cost effective polymer in relation to formulations, processing, end-use applications and sustainability.

Aims and objectives

PVC Conference

More than 400 delegates attended the IOM3 conference PVC 2011, held from 12-14 April in Brighton. Over sixty papers covered the global market, sustainability, performance improvement and polymerisation.
‘This event is going from strength to strength. The hard work put in by the organising committee, authors, sponsors
and exhibitors came to a successful conclusion at the launch of the conference,’ said Stuart Patrick, Chair of the organising committee.
PVC 2011 focused on sharing innovations in vinyl and supporting the future of the material across the world through communication and debate.

To purchase a book of the conference papers at a cost of £100, contact Eileen Ellis,tel: 01782 221707, eileen.ellis@iom3.org.
The event was co-organised by the British Plastics Federation, and supported by the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers, Vinyl 2010, the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network.

Regional Meetings

To assist local societies in arranging PVC related topics for the evening lecture programme. Target is to average one lecture per year somewhere in the UK.

Department of Materials, Loughborough University
To assist in the organisation, promotion and participation in the Current Trends in PVC Technology conference. This conference, with a more academic focus, is held every three years and runs 18 months after the Brighton conference.

Education Initiative 

The committee aims to generate one education initiative, funded or partially funded by IOM3, every three years which will assist to educate and promote particular aspects of polymers (including PVC) and materials.

The latest project is based at The Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, UK. "Fantastic Plastics" is a project designed to increase public understanding of the role of medical plastics – in particular PVC - and the issues surrounding them. There is currently a display in the Museum’s permanent galleries and a web resource is being developed. The gallery display features a fascinating interactive exhibit, enabling users to experience at first hand use of medical plastics in a surgical context, again with emphasis on the use of PVC. The website educational resources will animate the issues around use of medical plastics, encouraging more in-depth exploration and debate. Previous education initiatives have focussed on web based learning resources covering Hazard and Risk and Sustainable Development