At least, that's what environmentalists claim.
With their prodding, an anti-PVC movement is picking up steam and some high-profile corporations have begun to eliminate it from their production lines. But worldwide production is growing — along with the intensity of the debate.
PVC is "one of the most environmentally hazardous consumer materials ever produced," writes Joe Thornton, a biology professor at the University of Oregon in a briefing paper for the Healthy Building Network, an advocacy group.
A lot of vinyl is coming out of service, counters Allen Blakey, a spokesman for the Vinyl Institute, a trade group. But he says you can recycle, landfill, and incinerate PVC safely and effectively.
The latest salvo was a December report that showed the world is awash with 300 billion pounds of PVC, much of it nearing the end of its 30- to 40- year useful life. In the United States, about 7 billion pounds a year of PVC become municipal solid waste, medical waste, or construction demolition debris, says the report from the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) in Falls Church, Va.
Few within the recycling industry would dispute that PVC can be very difficult to recycle. Products made out of it carry a "3" or a "V" inside a recycling triangle symbol. But it is often mistakenly mixed with non-PVC plastic, contaminating entire batches of more valuable recycled plastic. Major plastic recyclers have in the past called PVC a "contaminant" to other plastics.
The share of PVC recycled annually is estimated at just 3 percent or less, according to various studies and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data cited by CHEJ. By contrast, 36 percent of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, often used in bottles, is recycled, the EPA says.
Incinerating PVC can be a problem, too. It contains chlorine, which when burned can produce the poison dioxin, researchers say. The Vinyl Institute says PVC is not a major source of dioxin. It points out that dioxin air emissions are down sharply in recent years. But environmentalists say that's mainly because of the closing of scores of municipal and medical-waste incinerators.
The only other disposal alternative — landfilling — is not much better, environmentalists say. That's because over time the lead, cadmium, and phthalates — chemicals often added to PVC as stabilizers or to make it soft and pliable — can leach out of PVC into groundwater, the report says. Landfill fires contribute to dioxin emissions, too, the EPA reports.
Such views — especially those in the CHEJ report — are sharply contradicted by the Vinyl Institute. The institute calls it a "myth" that vinyl is a problem in landfills.
The group got a boost in December when the U.S. Green Building Council's PVC task force issued its draft report. It said the available evidence "does not support a conclusion that PVC is consistently worse than alternative materials" in terms of health or the environment.
"Whether it is the energy savings provided by vinyl windows or the resource conservation of durable products like pipe, siding, and flooring, vinyl has a place in 'green' buildings," said Tim Burns, president of the Vinyl Institute, in a statement. The institute noted that a European Commission report had also "found vinyl's environmental impacts to be similar to those of competing materials."
The green-building council report was quickly attacked by scientists and activists.
If the overall market is any indication, support for PVC is growing. Domestic production rose to 16 billion pounds last year, up 8.8 percent from 2003. But the product mix is changing, due in part to the pressure brought by environmentalists.
In the past four years, a cadre of companies - from Mattel (toys) to Nike (shoes and sporting equipment) to General Motors (auto interior panels) - have moved to phase out PVC. Since December, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson said they were giving it up.
Yet, even in the construction industry, there are new rumblings of discontent.
Firestone Building Products, a major manufacturer of commercial roofing material, this month will begin phasing out its PVC roofing products, citing a desire to be environmentally responsible.
