My neighbor and I were having a conversation not long ago and she’d mentioned that she and her family have been looking to replace their doors and windows, frames included. They were considering PVC. By the way, PVC in French is PVC (pey’ vey sey).

Me: “WHY??! Why on earth would you get PVC doors and windows and frames? Or anything PVC for that matter?!”

Her: “Euh, calm down. What is so wrong PVC? It’s convenient because we don’t need to paint it, you know.”

Me: “PVC is terribly toxic for you, your family and the environment. And it’s cheap plastic, and plastic is ugly. If you care about your family, you won’t allow anything made from PVC in your home. Do you know that all hospitals in France had to replace all the PVC because it was endangering lives? It is a health and safety requirement because it is extremely detrimental, but the home improvement industry and the plastics (oil) industry have hidden its danger from the general public. Just like with asbestos, a while a go. No one thought asbestos was hazardous, but look now. mesothelioma, the cancer specifically related to asbestos in homes skyrocketed. The number of people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma has increased significantly in the past 30 years. Although many advances in treatment have been made, there is no cure for this type of cancer. Industries eventually had to fess up and stop producing it and selling it. And now, you can’t use asbestos anymore. Well, it’s the same with PVC, except that they haven’t gotten to the ‘fess up’ part.” It makes too much money for them so they will continue to sell the cheapest and most toxic kind of plastic known to man until the law says they can’t anymore.

Me: “I’m sure in the 70s, people were saying stuff like, “Oh! We’re getting our home insulated with asbestos! We’re getting asbesto ceilings and floors. Isn’t that great!!!?”

Me: “Today, you’re saying, ‘Oh! we’re getting new PVC windows, doors, gutters, pipes, hoses – isn’t that great!?’ NO. that is not great. PVC is the new asbestos. By the way, you know those vertical window blinds? They’re made of PVC.” (My sweetie calls it Pour Votre Cancer.)

Her: “So why is PVC so horrible?”

What is PVC?
There’s a good reason why manufacturers call it, “PVC.” Calling by its real name lends some hard and horrible reality to what PVC actually is. You may be saddened to hear that PVC stands for Polyvinyl Chloride. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? It’s actually much worse than that.

It has become apparent that this seemingly harmless plastic, PVC, is one of the most environmentally hazardous consumer materials ever produced. Although it appears to be the ideal building material, PVC has high environmental and human health costs that its manufacturers fail to tell consumers. If you’ve learned that PVC is totally safe, you’ve been lied to. PVC (polyvinyl chloride or vinyl) is the worst plastic from an environmental health perspective, threatening major, singular hazards from its inception to its disposal. In other words, PVC becomes harmful the second it’s created until it is disposed of – and even at that point, it still poses toxic exposure inside a landfill or incinerator. That means it emits toxic compounds when it’s being made, while you have it and when it gets disposed of.

The Making of PVC and Beyond
During the manufacture of the building block ingredients of PVC (such as vinyl chloride monomer) dioxin (the most potent carcinogen known) and other persistent pollutants are emitted into the air, water and land, which present both acute and chronic health hazards. During use, PVC products can leach toxic additives, for example flooring can release softeners called phthalates. When PVC reaches the end of its useful life, it can be either landfilled, where it leaches toxic additives or incinerated, again emitting dioxin and heavy metals. When PVC burns in accidental fires, hydrogen chloride gas and dioxin are formed.¹

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is unique in its high chlorine and additives content, which makes it an environmental poison throughout its life cycle. Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen, which can lead to a number of cancers, endocrine disruption, endometriosis, neurological damange, birth defects, impaired child development and reproductive and immune system damage. PVC releases dioxin and other persistent organic pollutants during its manufacture and disposal and cannot be readily recycled due to it chlorine and additive content. Furthermore, additives are not bound to the plastic and leach out. ^{1, 2}

Dioxins from PVC – The Impact
Dioxin’s impact doesn’t stop there. As a persistent bioaccumulative toxin (PBT), it does not break down rapidly and travels around the globe, accumulating in fatty tissue and concentrating as it goes up the food chain. Dioxins from Louisiana manufacturing plants migrate on the winds and concentrate in Great Lakes fish. Dioxins are even found in hazardous concentrations in the tissues of whales and polar bears and in Inuit mother’s breast milk. The dioxin exposure of the average American already poses a calculated risk of cancer of greater than 1 in 1,000 – thousands of times greater than the usual standard for acceptable risk. Most poignantly, dioxins concentrate in breast milk to the point that human infants now receive high doses, orders of magnitude greater than those of the average adult.²

Lethal Additives
PVC is useless without the addition of a plethora of toxic chemical stabilizers – such as lead, cadmium and organotins – and phthalate plasticizers. These leach, flake or outgas from the PVC over time raising risks fthat include asthma, lead poisoning and cancer.²

Construction and PVC
The construction industry has been unaware of its true cost and long considered it a cheap convenient material. Piping, vinyl siding, and vinyl flooring are the largest and most familiar uses of PVC. Roof membranes have been a growing area. It is also used in electrical wire insulation, conduit, junction boxes, wall coverings, carpet backing, window and door frames, shades and blinds, shower curtains, furniture, flues, gutters, down spouts, waterstops, weatherstrip, flashing, moldings and elsewhere. Fortunately, for each of these uses, there exist a wide range of cost effective alternative materials that pose less of a health hazard to workers and the public at large.

Alternatives
Replacing PVC in your projects is easier than you may think. A number of resource guides are available to help you find green construction materials. But beware: some construction materials labeled “green” actually contain recycled PVC/vinyl and frequently require virgin PVC mixed with the recycled.

* Piping
Cast iron, steel, concrete vitrified clay, and plastics such as HDPE (high density polyethylene).

* Windows & Doors
Recycled, reclaimed or FSC certified sustainably harvested wood, fiberglass, and aluminum.

* Siding
Fiber-cement board, stucco, recycled or reclaimed or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified sustainably harvested wood, OSB (oriented strand board), brick, and polypropylene.

* Roofing Membranes
TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin), EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), FPO (flexible polyolefin alloy), MBM (modified bitumen), NBP (nitrile butadiene polymer) and low-slope metal roofing.

* Flooring & Carpet
Linoleum, bamboo, ceramic tile, carpeting with natural fiber backing or polyolefins, reclaimed or FSC certified sustainably harvested wood, cork, recycled rubber, concrete, and nonchlorinated plastic polymers.

* Wall Coverings & Furniture
Natural fibers such as wood and wool, polyethylene, polyester, paint.

* Electrical Insulation and Sheathing
Halogen free, LLDPE (linear low-density polyethylene), and XLPE (thermoset crosslinked polyethylene)

Guides
NorCal ADPSR Architectural Resource Guide
Greenpeace PVC Alternatives Database
Environmental Building News
Sources: ¹ Greenpeace, ² Heathly Building Network