Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is the second largest selling plastic, consuming almost one-third of the chlorine produced worldwide. Used to manufacture pipe, conduit, fittings, wire insulation, packing and home furnishings, PVC was produced in the USA at the rate of 9 billion kilograms per year in 1996 (with 60 percent of this along the Texas Gulf Coast), and will grow by about three percent per year for the foreseeable future. Polyvinylchloride is made from vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which in turn comes from the pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride (EDC) by reaction.
PVC has a linear structure similar to polyethylene but with a chlorine atom replacing a hydrogen atom on alternate carbon atoms. PVC itself is hard and rigid but the addition of phthalate esters as plasticisers makes it soft and pliable and ideal for tubing.
Questions have been raised relating to the safety of soft PVC toys and teething rings which are put into the mouth by small children. Reasons for concern for children's health have been raised because of the release of phthalates, a chemical substance used as a plasticiser in such PVC toys. Phthalates can damage the liver, kidneys and testicles when ingested. On 30 September 1999 eight Member States adopted measures prohibiting the use of phthalates in toys which small children put in their mouth. The European Commission adopted a Europe-wide withdrawal of such toys from the market in November 1999.
The verdict is clear. Landfilling of PVC is a ticking time bomb, incineration creates even more hazardous waste than there was before, and recycling is not a solution. PVC is an environmental poison that endangers human health and should be phased out entirely and as fast as possible.
Incineration of 1 kg of PVC leads in most cases to the formation of more than 1kg of hazardous wastes. PVC incineration will furthermore significantly increase the production of leachates and leachable salts from these wastes and creates additional costs of up to 395 Euro per tonnes of PVC incinerated.
Landfilling of PVC will contribute to the formation of dioxins and furans in accidental landfill fires.
The three EU-wide studies have sounded the death knell for PVC. The Commission needs to translate these findings into strong and comprehensive restrictive measures immediately.
It is no longer a matter of whether or not PVC should be phased out, but only of how fast it should happen.
It is stated that phthalates do not readily dissolve in water. This is quite correct, but it may be assumed that this statement was made to imply that phthalates cause no environmental risks in aqueous environments. This is naturally not the case, because it is exactly the fact that phthlates are readily soluble in fats (and not in water) and also tend to accumulate in sediment.These compounds are a hazard to biota, including aquatic organisms. The fat-solubility of phthalates facilitates their absorption through cellular membranes. Once taken up by small organisms, phthlates tend to bio-accumulate in the biota as they ascend in the food chain and as a result have the potential to interfere with normal metabolic functions.
The dioxin content of PVC is below detectable limit. The chemical industry, including the chlorine industry, does not produce significant emissions of dioxin related compounds into the environment.
Polyvinyl chloride, a plastic composed of 43% of oil products and 57% of salt as raw material, therefore it uses less exhaustible raw materials and less energy than any other plastic or many 'classic' materials. This makes it excellent for sustainable development. PVC has an extremely wide range of applications, from toys via (waste) water lines to bloodbags.
The amount of crude oil used in production should not be overemphasised, all plastics in the world use only 4% of all crude oil, 94% is directly used for energy, the rest for other purposes. So, if crude oil should only be used for making plastics, it would be an abundant material.
There are no big problems for PVC when produced, there are even less when in use. PVC needs practically no maintenance. This was one of the reasons for the Gothenburg (Sweden) hospitals to choose for vinyl instead of linoleum floorings. Although the production of linoleum uses near only renewable raw materials (linseed oil), it is less favourable in use: before the application of vinyl they had to use 6 tons of cleaning agents per year, after that, 0.5 tons and they will reduce it to near zero.
The same is true for wooden window frames: Wood is a 100% renewable raw material, but, besides production emissions (2/3 of the wood ends as production waste, which is mainly burned!), wooden window frames have to be painted, or treated. This makes the use of wood and PVC for window frames equally good (or bad) for the environment.
PVC softeners, like phtalates, are linked to cancer and oestrogenic properties. That may be the case, if you give massive doses to rats – up to an equivalent of 500 g/day for an adult human – but after hundreds of tests, not for primates (apes and humans), because differences in metabolism. PVC, including phtalates, is the only thoroughly tested plastic which is permitted for bloodbags. In fact, you ingest near 0.1 g of phtalates per year by using PVC, the toxic equivalent of drinking 0.01 g of alcohol... per year.
All alternatives for PVC, give pollution during production, transport, recycling and/or incineration. In many cases, they use more energy and more scarce raw materials than PVC and in many cases they give more important air and water emissions than the production, transport, use, recycling, incineration and accidental fires of PVC.