Recycled PVC: our eco-responsible approach
Recycled material in, recyclable product out, service life multiplied: how our cones fit into the European PVC circular economy.
At EHS, eco-responsibility is not a marketing claim bolted on after the fact: it is a design choice. Our cones are made from recycled PVC, are themselves recyclable at end of life, and last long enough to replace several generations of disposable cones. Here is how that loop works — and why PVC is particularly well suited to it.
PVC: a plastic recycled at scale
PVC has one of the most structured recycling streams of any plastic in Europe, driven by the industry’s voluntary VinylPlus commitment. The figures speak for themselves:
- 724,638 tonnes of PVC recycled in Europe in 2024 alone;
- 9.5 million tonnes recycled since 2000, avoiding roughly 19.1 million tonnes of CO₂;
- a target of one million tonnes recycled per year by 2030.
Recycling is essentially mechanical: end-of-life products and production offcuts are sorted, ground, granulated or micronised, and the resulting material is remelted into new products. PVC withstands around seven recycling cycles without significant loss of performance — and every recycled tonne avoids producing a tonne of virgin material, which is far more energy-intensive.
One detail concerns us directly: recycled flexible PVC powder is used precisely to make floor coverings… and traffic cones. The traffic cone is a flagship product of the PVC circular economy.
Our material loop
Recycled material in
Our REVO cones incorporate post-industrial recycled PVC: production offcuts and end-of-life products that would otherwise have been landfilled or incinerated. The base is made of 100% recycled PVC — the heaviest part of the cone, and therefore where recycled material has the greatest impact.
A recyclable product out
At end of life, a one-piece flexible PVC cone feeds straight back into the PVC recycling stream: a single material, with no assembly of incompatible plastics to separate. In France, the majority of traffic cones are made of PVC, which makes this loop realistic at the scale of the whole trade — not just on paper.
Durability: the first ecological lever
The most important parameter remains service life. A cone that takes the hits and springs back lasts 3 to 5 times longer than a rigid cone that breaks: that is so much manufacturing, transport and waste avoided. The analysis is simple — the most ecological cone is the one you never have to replace.
What it changes for you
For a public or private buyer, this choice translates concretely into:
- documentable environmental criteria for your tenders (recycled content, recyclability, service life);
- less worksite waste to manage and haul away;
- a lower cost per year of use — ecology and economics pointing the same way.
The transition to durable worksite equipment is not a constraint: it is a rational decision, environmentally and economically. We are convinced the whole trade will head in this direction — we simply chose not to wait.
Sources
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