VinylSUM is based at the Department of Materials, in Loughborough University. Formerly known as the Institute of Polymer Technology and Materials Engineering (IPTME) the department has a reputation and a very supportive infrastructure for carrying out quality PVC research over many years. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Noreen Thomas with Professor Marianne Gilbert as Co-investigator. The Research Network is co-ordinated by Stuart Patrick.
Lifecycle Assessment expertise is supplied by Professor Adisa Azapagic from the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at the University of Manchester with a particular research theme on the Environment and Sustainable Technology.
INEOS Vinyls is Europe’s largest PVC manufacturer and is currently ranked fifth worldwide. Its activities are vertically integrated through most of the PVC manufacturing chain and include the manufacture of EDC (ethylene dichloride), VCM (Vinyl Chloride Monomer – the monomer used to produce PVC), PVC resins, compounds and rigid films.
The British Plastics Federation is the leading trade association of the UK Plastics Industry (representing approximately 80% of turnover). It is a springboard for industry action and exists to exploit common opportunities and resolve shared problems. Membership encompasses companies from all stages of the polymer supply chain: including additive producers and suppliers, polymer producers, suppliers and processors, as well as machinery suppliers and manufacturers. The BPF is an authoritative, well-respected and objective source of information, views and commentary whose name has, as a consequence, become synonymous with plastics in the UK. The BPF co-ordinates the UK contribution to Vinyl 2010 through its Vinyls Group activities.