What you need to know about PVC Vinyls.

Most designers who went to school were taught that PVC was somehow bad and harmed the environment. Most of this is stemmed by either inferior plastics or by old information that is not up to par with how plastics are made today.

According to the Tarnell Company Recycler survey, One Billion pounds of vinyl is recycled annually within North America, with over 150 million pounds of post-consumer materials, a 40% increase since 2014. In the U.S. most of the 10 billion pounds of vinyl resin produced annually goes into durable goods—approximately 5 billion pounds goes into water infrastructure (large pvc pipes) that is buried underground and has a service life in excess of 100 years—so it doesn’t go into the recycling stream. In addition, less than 3% of all plastics sent to US landfills is PVC

Elimination of Lead and Cadmium:
In the early 1980’s the U.S. and Canadian vinyl industry began a stewardship program aimed at implementing alternative stabilization technology to eliminated the need for stabilizers that contain metals, such as lead or cadmium. This effort was complete for cadmium around the year 2000 and for lead around the year 2006.

Better Emissions:
28% decrease in dioxin emissions since 2009, which amounts to 3.3% of all government regulated sources . Chlor-vinyl industry dioxin ambient emissions amount to 3.3% of all 2015 regulated sources such as metals, cement, paper, power, wood, oil and chemicals. It should also be noted that most materials including carpet, drapes and even natural wood can release dioxin emissions when on fire. 

Chrlorine Production:
US and Canadian raw material manufacturers for vinyl resin produce their own chlorine at or near their facilities resulting in minimizing risks associated with chemical transportation, leaks from loading and unloading operations and reducing the industry’s carbon foot print. The US vinyl chloride producers no longer rely on chlorine derived from mercury-cell technology to manufacture PVC resin.

For more information on education of PVCs and vinyls we recommend you to visit 
​https://www.vinylinfo.org/vinyl-sustainability-council/

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