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Environmental Impacts of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Building Materials
Joe Thornton, Ph.D. - Healthy Building Network, 2002
In the last 40 years, polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) has become a majorbuilding material. Global vinyl production now totals over 30 milliontons per year, the majority of which is directed to building applications,furnishings, and electronics. The manufacture, use, and disposal of PVC poses substantial and uniqueenvironmental and human health hazards. Across the world, govern-ments, companies, and scientific organizations have recognized the haz-ards of PVC.
In virtually all European nations, certain uses of PVC havebeen eliminated for environmental reasons, and several countries haveambitious programs to reduce PVC use overall. Scores of communitieshave PVC avoidance policies, and dozens of green buildings have beenbuilt with little or no PVC. Firms in a variety of industries haveannounced measures to reduce PVC consumption and are using or pro-ducing alternative materials in a variety of product sectors, includingbuilding materials. This paper discusses the hazards of the PVC lifecyclethat have led to this large scale movement away from PVC products.
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