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PVC Lifecycle Production PVC Manufacturing & Dioxin Use Disposal/Recycling PVC and Dioxin |
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PVC (polyvinyl chloride) -- often called 'vinyl' - is the second most commonly used plastic in the world. It is also the most problematic for the environment.
PVC
is one of the world's largest dioxin sources. Dioxins are created when PVC
plastic is burned in incinerators, household stoves, open trash burning, and
accidental fires in buildings and vehicles. Dioxins are created during the
manufacture of PVC so that production wastes are rich with dioxins and other
highly toxic contaminants. Toxic chemical additives are incorporated within
PVC products. PVC production is increasing worldwide and is now the world's
single largest use of industrial chlorine.
PVC production
began rising rapidly in the 1960s. As other products made with industrial
chlorine have been banned or phased out (PCBs, CFCs, chlorinated solvents,
etc.), the chloralkali industry has turned to PVC as the "sink" it needs for
its excess chlorine. PVC production is increasing, particularly in Asia and
Latin America. Today more than 30 percent of the world's chlorine production
is used to make PVC.
PVC
has displaced a broad range of other, less problematic materials such as glass,
metal, paper, ceramics, wood, etc., and it obstructs the use of chorine-free
plastics.
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The largest
use of PVC is in building materials - cables, window frames, doors, walls,
paneling, water and wastewater pipes - and in home products - vinyl flooring,
vinyl wallpaper, window blinds and shower curtains. PVC is used for consumer articles such as credit cards, records, toys; in the office for furniture, binders, folders, pens; it is used in the car industry, especially as underseal, in hospitals for medical disposables, as cable and wire insulation and for imitation leather and for garden furniture. |
PVC
Lifecycle
Of
all the plastics, PVC plastic or vinyl is the most environmentally damaging.
Throughout its lifecycle it requires hazardous chemicals in production, releases
harmful additives and creates toxic wastes. The worrying news is that its
production is increasing worldwide; despite the fact that safer, feasible
alternatives currently exist for almost all PVC products.
Production
The
production of PVC powder involves the transport of dangerous explosive materials
such as vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and the creation of toxic waste, notably
ethylene dichloride (EDC) tars. Tar wastes in particular contain huge quantities
of dioxins that are then incinerated or dumped, spreading dioxins into the
wider environment.
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Previously these tar wastes were burned on ocean incineration vessels until a world wide ban was imposed in 1991 due to their toxic emissions and threat to the marine ecosystem. These wastes are now burned in land incinerators or dumped into deep wells. |
Then, numerous additives are incorporated into the PVC to make a wide variety
of products. Some of these additives are softeners (plasticisers) to make
it soft and pliable, heavy metals as stabilisers or to give it colour, and
fungicides to stop fungi from eating the other additives. So the production
of PVC also involves a huge secondary toxic manufacturing industry.
PVC Manufacturing & Dioxin
In 1989 it was discovered that dioxins were generated in the process of manufacturing
PVC. The dioxins end up in some of the process wastes and, in some instances,
in the PVC itself.
| The wastes produced at ICI's plant contain high levels of dioxins and Greenpeace found a similar picture in 1994 and in 1996 when they investigated the PVC industry in the USA. The images on the right show Greenpeace sampling at PVC plants in Louisiana. |  |
In
the Netherlands, the manufacture of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) caused extensive
dioxin contamination of Rotterdam Harbour. See
the Hotspots map
In Venice, Greenpeace has analysed sediment from the Porto Marghera. It clearly
showed contamination of the lagoon with dioxin by the Enichem plant, where
VCM is among the chlorinated chemicals manufactured. See
the Mediterranean Tour
In 1998 a judge ordered the closure of the main waste pipe discharging waste
from PVC production from two companies, Enichem and EVC. The order was lifted
after discussions with the companies.
In Germany in 1994, the Environmental Ministry of Lower Saxony found extremely
high levels of dioxins in sludges from the waste water treatment plant for
European Vinyls Corporation's PVC production at Wilhelmshaven. Dioxin was
also found in a dump where these sludges were disposed.
Use
As
well as environmentally damaging production PVC consumer products also present
a hazard to consumers. Plasticisers are not bound to the plastic and can leach
out over time; for instance plasticisers in vinyl flooring, will evaporate
into the room. The most common plasticiser, the phthalate DEHP, is a suspected
carcinogen. Phthalate softeners are global contaminants and over 90% are used
solely to make soft PVC plastic.
Recently
many governments
have banned soft vinyl baby toys and teethers because of the hazards of
softeners leaking into their infants' mouths when sucked or chewed.
Disposal
The
disposal of PVC creates more environmental problems. If burned, either in
open fires or incinerators, PVC will release an acidic gas along with dioxins
- because of its chlorine content. PVC is a major source of dioxins globally.
If landfilled, it eventually releases additives which can then threaten groundwater
supplies; landfill fires involving PVC are a further source of dioxin.
More
Info see PVC waste and recycling
Recycling
PVC
Recycling is neither technically nor financially feasible.
Currently
less than 1% of PVC is materially 'recycled'. Post-consumer products
or PVC waste products cannot be recycled into the same quality because PVC
always needs virgin PVC to make a product of similar quality. The majority
of this collected waste is 'downcycled' or used to manufacture 'inferior'
products such as garden benches and sound barriers along highways.
Many recycled PVC products have to be re-stabilised with toxic heavy metal
compounds or other stabilisers, further increasing the range of hazardous
components in the secondary product.
For more info on the problems of recycling
PVC see 'Waste & Recycling'
PVC
and Dioxin
PVC is a major source of dioxins worldwide. Dioxins
are created when PVC is produced, recycled and disposed of in incinerators,
and when PVC products burn in accidental fires such as landfill fires.
| Dioxins are now present throughout the environment and the food chain; everyone is exposed to them in their diets, particularly through fatty foods such as dairy, meat, fish and eggs. |  |
TCDD,
the most lethal form of the dioxin family is a known human carcinogen and
hormone disrupter and is recognized as the most toxic synthetic compound ever
produced. All humans and animals now carry body burdens of TCDD and other
dioxins.
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From July
9-12, 1997, at least 400 tonnes of PVC were consumed in a fire at Plastimet,
Inc., Hamilton, Ontario. The facility was storing bales of "jet trimmings"
from a manufacturer of automobile interiors. |
More on the fire and resulting dioxin pollution from the hotspots map.
a) List of known or suspected processes that form dioxin and related chemicals
b)
Accidental Fires involving PVC
Even
during small house fires considerable amounts of dioxin can form because PVC
is present in interior furnishings and products such as floorings and wallpapers,
and electrical equipment such as cables. The hydrochloric acid which forms
when PVC is burned can lead to life threatening lung damage and causes serious
corrosion to buildings as well.
The
first local authority restriction on PVC use in public buildings occurred
in the town of Bielefeld, Germany in 1986, after a fire in a bowling alley
which left a costly and dangerous dioxin cleanup problem.
| In 1993 the German Environmental Protection Agency recommended that in the long run, " PVC products should be substituted by other materials in all areas where the potential dioxin and hydrogen chloride formation in case of fire poses a substantial risk for human health and the environment." |  |
(See lists of PVC free local authorities - PVC Free Future Report).
In the summer of 1997 in Hamilton, Canada an accidental fire at a PVC car scrap recycling site caused the evacuation of hundreds of people and dioxin contamination in the wastes on and around the site. Residents were advised not to eat local garden produce or allow their children to play on the grass.
Fires
at landfills are frequent occurrences, even in industrialized countries. For
example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently estimated that
landfill fires contribute 20 percent of dioxin releases to air in that country.
Report:
PVC Fires list
c)
PVC and Open Burning
PVC
and Burning in Household Stoves, Barrels and rubbish/trash Piles
Based
on estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the burning of household
wastes in open barrels and piles is the source of almost one-fourth of dioxin
releases to air in the U.S. The Agency's studies show PVC as the major source
of chlorine available for dioxin formation. No such estimates have been made
in Europe. However, according to the European Dioxin Inventory, "The
extent of co-combustion of household wastes is almost unknown and should be
assessed … since this practice may influence considerably the PCDD/F
emissions from stoves and fireplaces." In Sweden, some 54 percent of
dioxin releases to air are from residential stoves that burn wood and unknown
quantities of household wastes.
Background Document:
