Responsible

Life cycle assessment (LCA)

Many experts agree that to truly understand a product’s environmental impact, its entire life cycle should be evaluated. This is known as LCA.

Environmental effects associated with a product’s manufacture and disposal can be counterbalanced over time by a long, beneficial, low-impact life. For example, impacts associated with the production of vinyl building products such as roofing, windows, and cladding are far outweighed by decades of energy-saving benefits.

Vinyl products perform favorably in terms of energy efficiency, thermal-insulating value, low contribution to greenhouse gases, low maintenance, and product durability
Recent life-cycle studies show the health and environmental impacts of vinyl building products generally are comparable to—and can be less than— the impacts of alternatives

Worker safety

In the early 1970’s, doctors at a company making vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), an intermediate material in vinyl production, noticed several cases of a rare form of liver cancer among certain employees, and took action to report this in the medical literature. Within two years, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued regulations reducing workplace exposure, and the entire vinyl industry completely re-engineered its production operations to create an essentially closed-loop system, minimizing worker exposure.

There have been no documented cases of this cancer among vinyl workers whose careers began after the changes took effect, or in other vinyl workers who make compound or finished products

Vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)

The industry’s vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) emissions have been reduced by more than 99% since the 1970s. Moreover, there is no confirmed case on record in which a member of the general population has been harmed by exposure to VCM. No other confirmed community health effects have been linked to the presence of vinyl or VCM production facilities. VCM breaks down quickly when exposed to sunlight.

Dioxin

Vinyl is an extremely small source of dioxin, so small that levels in the environment would be essentially unchanged even if vinyl were not being manufactured and used every day in important products. The vinyl industry has studied and worked to reduce its contribution to dioxin. In fact, vinyl manufacturing sources emit only a few grams of dioxin per year. Other dioxin sources include forest and agricultural burning, volcanoes, burning wood in fireplaces, exhaust from diesel-powered vehicles, and manufacture of other building materials. Overall dioxin levels in the environment have been declining for more than 40 years, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA ). During this time, production and use of vinyl have more than tripled. According to the EPA :

Dioxin emissions from industrial sources in the United States have decreased by more than 90% since 1987

Indoor air quality (IAQ)

Properly installed vinyl products have no adverse impact on IAQ, and the small amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted will dissipate quickly through normal ventilation. Tests have shown that the initial odor of vinyl wallcoverings dissipates much faster than odors from most paints. Vinyl products are able to meet low VOC requirements in standards such as FloorScore,® Green Label Plus, and GREENGUARD.

IAQ can be affected by biological factors as well. Vinyl products such as flooring and wallcovering are easy to clean and maintain, thus helping healthcare facilities reduce the spread of pathogens.

For hot and humid climates, manufacturers have developed innovative products such as mildew-resistant wallcovering or “microvented” wallcovering that discourage condensation and the creation of moist conditions associated with mold from forming inside walls.

Recycling

Millions of pounds of post-consumer vinyl are recycled each year, and some one billion pounds or more are recycled at the post-industrial level (for example, scrap and trim from manufacturing). Many finished vinyl building and construction products contain some amount of recycled content.

The vinyl industry has a history of supporting recycling, and this effort continues as companies, alone and through their trade associations, expand existing programs and explore new opportunities to recover vinyl products at the end of their useful life. Product take-back programs are one example, where used products can be returned to the manufacturer to be recycled into the same product for another useful life.

Landfill Avoidance

Vinyl products are highly resistant to the corrosive conditions found in many landfills. In fact, vinyl is used to make landfill liners and caps because it is so stable.

Vinyl accounts for less than 0.6% of landfilled waste by weight
Because it is predominantly used for long-life applications, less vinyl goes to landfills each year than other widely used plastics used in short-term applications