+Vantage Vinyl™ Moves From Pilot to Program
By Jay Thomas
In a world where sustainability continues to be front and center, customers are increasingly demanding transparency. This isn’t limited to just the end product manufacturer though – it includes verifying the sustainable operations of the entire supply chain back to raw material extraction. This has always been the aim of +Vantage Vinyl™ – to advance and recognize the vinyl industry’s sustainable operations while also providing a framework for continuing company and industry improvement, reporting, and transparency.
Over the last two years, we’ve taken feedback and learned many lessons, including the need to facilitate supply chain transparency and ensuring alignment of upstream and downstream data collection. We’ve turned these lessons into meaningful program updates that will improve measurement, reporting and continuous improvement at the company and industry levels. With these updates in place, I’m excited to announce +Vantage Vinyl is transitioning from initial pilot into program phase.
Updates to the Guiding Principles
The Guiding Principles were established and approved in 2018 to set the direction and parameters of the program as aspirational pillars to be achieved over time as fundamental. They are informed by impact categories identified in a materiality assessment and organized around the pillars of environmental, social, economic soundness, collaboration, and open communications. With the transition from the pilot phase, they have been updated to ensure better alignment to the three impact categories. In this way, the industry is prioritizing the focus of its actions on the most important impact areas and taking a balanced approach across the spectrum of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) topics.
Starting this year, participating companies’ compliance will be verified against the updated Guiding Principles and will be reported at the industry aggregate level and measured for improvement on an annual basis. GreenCircle Certified served as the independent third-party verification body during the pilot phase and will continue to do so in the program phase. Third-party verification is an important component of any sustainability program, as it adds to its transparency and integrity. We’re glad to continue our work with GreenCircle, which is well-versed in both the sustainability community and the vinyl industry.
Collaboration with Other Global Sustainability Programs
A common theme in sustainability is that we go further when we go together. While +Vantage Vinyl is the program measuring U.S. vinyl industry sustainability efforts, there are other programs that have been in practice for years in other countries.
In January, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vinyl Council of Australia to explore a pathway to reciprocity between +Vantage Vinyl and the PVC Stewardship Program. By working together, we hope to facilitate further supply chain involvement in industry sustainability programs and accelerate industry improvements. We are continuing to seek out other collaboration opportunities and further sustainability practices.
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that purpose-driven sustainability requires long-term commitment. We’ve refined the +Vantage Vinyl program significantly, but there will never be a point where we are entirely satisfied with our sustainability efforts or that that we’ve reached a stopping point. It is true that sustainability is a journey, not a destination. As our industry and the world adapts, so will our program. And we are prepared to ensure the program requirements will meet the sustainability obligations of the future.
