The 6th and 7th May saw representatives from across the PVC industry convening for the General Assemblies of the ECVM (European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers)and Vinyl 2010 (the European PVC industry’s 10 year voluntary commitment for sustainable development) at the Majestic Hotel in Barcelona.

The theme for the joint event paid homage to the city’s most famous son, with the theme of ‘Building the future inspired by Gaudi’ and marked both the 20th anniversary celebration for ECVM and the first public General Assembly for Vinyl 2010.

As Josef Ertl, CEO of Vinnolit and Chairman of the ECVM Vinyls Committee and the Vinyl 2010 Board explained in his opening remarks, the idea of holding a Vinyl 2010 General Assembly back-to-back with the annual ECVM General Assembly was to continue the process of bringing all participants in the value chain closer through the open discussion of the challenges and opportunities that the industry faces.

Over the two days the 100 delegates from both the raw material suppliers and the converting industry heard presentations from a wide range of speakers including representatives from the local Catalan Government, the global and European PVC industries and specialist disciplines.

An interesting feature between the two conference days was the staging of a unique ‘Café Crossfire’ event organised in conjunction with Friends of Europe in the spectacular surroundings of Barcelona’s Liceu Opera House. During the onstage debate representatives from industry, politics, NGOs were joined by the first and second place winners of Vinyl 2010’s recent young people’s Essay Competition to debate the subject ‘Are economic development and sustainable development mutually exclusive’.