Vinyl has been so widely used, for so long, and in so many applications forming the background of everyday life, that people take it for granted. Indeed, PVC products have been commercially vailable since World War II and today account for more annual resin use worldwide than any other plastic except polyethylene. In many applications, it would be difficult to find a substitute aterial without sacrificing performance, value, or environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, PVC remains under attack by activists. Anti-PVC campaigns draw on dubious studies, selective data, abrications, and scare tactics to rally support against the compound and chlorine, its main component. The campaigns, which rely on slick marketing, pseudo-science, and generally uncritical edia coverage, have been effective at dissuading some businesses and consumers from using PVC.

 

But the facts about PVC undermine activists’ claims and show that vinyl poses no danger to the workplace, consumers, or the environment. And as scientists tally up the life-cycle factors that determine the advantages of materials, PVC exhibits numerous environmental benefits.

 

 

This is especially true in building and construction, the biggest market for PVC, accounting for 76 per cent of demand. Key applications include indoor and outdoor pipes for water, drainage and sewage; geoliners, roofing surfaces and membranes; siding, window lineals (profiles), deck and fence materials; floor and wall coverings, and wire and cable coatings.

 

Studies find that PVC building and onstruction products are more energy efficient to manufacture and use than those made of competitive materials. It takes 400 per cent more energy to fabricate concrete pressure pipe than PVC pipe; 280 per cent more energy to make aluminium windows; and twice the energy to produce cast iron pipes. Even products as traditional as wood windows require 50 per cent more energy o produce than PVC windows.

 

Reflecting the need to consider the full environmental impact of building materials, the U.S. Green Building Council has stated that the elimination of PVC or any ther material does not alone qualify for one of its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) credits. A European Commission report, meanwhile, affirms that PVC offers environmental benefits that are equal to or greater than those of other materials in many applications.

 

The benefits of PVC don’t end with finished products. PVC earns high marks in life-cycle analyses. It has a low environmental footprint during production, especially since 56 per cent of the composition is chlorine, which comes from seawater. Studies have found that PVC production is 99 per cent efficient – the process yields almost no waste, and the scrap that’s created can be reused in many applications. In-plant recycling has been commonplace for years, and networks have been developed to promote recycling of discarded products.

 

 

PVC compounds formulated to internationally recognized quality standards have never been shown to affect human health, are environmentally benign, and have proven safe in applications ranging from food packaging and transportation to toys, medical devices and commercial and residential building fixtures. Despite activists’ claims, regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union Committee on Medicine have never found reasons for concern about the use of PVC in medical and health care products or in packaging. In spite of a recent phthalates ban, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has also found no health threats to children in PVC toys.

 

The presence of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and dioxin emissions during production of PVC resin are cited by activists as a cause for concern - both are carcinogens and can severely affect health if improperly handled. But these materials have for some time been non-issues during PVC production from the standpoint of worker health and safety. The chloride component in the PVC polymer, the compounds based on it, and subsequent finished products is stable. In fact, this component contributes to fire resistance and is one reason why vinyl wire and cable coatings exhibit better flame properties than competing plastics.

 

Chlorine’s use in a range of applications confirms its safety: Chlorine is used to treat 98 per cent of the U.S. water supply; purify swimming pools; produce pharmaceuticals, and serve as a bleaching agent in paper. Chlorination of the U.S. drinking water supply began 100 years ago, in 1908. As a result, countless lives have been saved through prevention of the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid. From a rate of 35 to 40 cases of typhoid disease per 100,000 population in the 1920s, for example, the rate today is effectively zero, according to the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American  Chemistry Council.

 

In the 1980s, PVC became the largest user of VCM in the U.S. Yet even as production of VCM soared with PVC demand, dioxin emissions plummeted. In one period, 2000-03, emissions from PVC production declined 70 per cent from an already low level, a trend that reflects ongoing developments in process efficiency and safety standards. PVC manufacturing, in fact, accounts for only about 0.4 per cent of annual U.S. dioxin emissions, a negligible amount when compared to forest fires (61 per cent of dioxin emissions every year); landfill fires (14 per cent); land-clearing (7 per cent); waste incineration (6 per cent), and backyard burning (6 per cent).

 

 

Activist groups base anti-vinyl campaigns on the claim that vinyl and its components – chlorine, plasticizers, stabilizers and phthalates - are harmful to human health and to the environment. Yet no credible scientific studies have shown any dangers to humans from exposure to these materials, either during PVC production or in products, providing, of course, that internationally recognized safety procedures are in place, a given for any reputable manufacturer. Experts are at a loss to explain why PVC provokes fury among activists, especially since none of their claims withstands scrutiny. Some believe that anti-PVC campaigns are really directed at chlorine, which, like many chemicals, is dangerous when improperly handled. In 1999, the former U.S. Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, reported that a commission he headed failed to find problems with DEHP, a phthalate used in PVC toys and medical devices, and one that activists claim should be banned for health and safety reasons. Koop advised that it was not only unnecessary to eliminate DEHP (and PVC products containing it), but doing so in medical applications could pose a “significant health risk to some individuals.”

 

PVC is one of the materials on which modern societies depend for utility, reliability and economy in the products they produce. As businesses and consumers better understand the life-cycle relationship of chemicals to the environment, PVC will increasingly be recognized as a material with green benefits, one whose use substantially reduces the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of many products.

 

Efforts to ban PVC are, consequently, bad science, bad policy and bad for the markets and consumers that benefit from its properties and product-enabling performance.