PVC?? The Truth Please!

Hi Sean,

I can share only one fold in that PVC, having clorine atom within its molecule, can cause acid rain when it is heated and reacts with moisture and forms hydrochloic acid. This is one of the reason why it is discouraged to use it. Also, during its forming process, strong and pungent smell. Not sure if it could cause
corrosion when inhaled. Heard that neuatralization is required during the recycling process but not known its process.

The other concern is its vinyl chloride monomer which is limited its release from the polymer. This is regulated by both US and EU food laws. Additionally, one of the critical concerns is its plasticizer used, Phthalate, which can effect human reproductive system. This plasticizer can be leached out into the products over time, temperature and the product's characteristic (ex., fat content). Hope this could cover a brief today's concerns about PVC.

A bit more info

Adam Pawlick

Director of R&D and Engineering, Palermo's Pizza

Industry: Food

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Role: Packager

Sean -

A bit more information/clarification around PVC. The issue for ingestion (both medically and through food) isn't ingesting the chlorine, it is ingesting the plasticizers (namely certain types of phthalates, not all phthalates are banned, only some). DEHP is one of the major plasticizers that has been banned. In addition, it isn't only through ingestion or injection, it has been linked to some issues through inhalation as it off-gases from the soft PVC product (think shower curtains) and there have been proposed bans for those uses.

So before we start to worry about what is getting into our bodies, we need to be a bit more specific, PVC itself doesn't have ingestion worries (that is why some areas of the country allow for PVC piping on incoming water in the housing codes, this type of PVC does not contain any plasticizer, so there are no worries), some of the additives to make it soft and pliable have concerns. My suggestion would be to find out what additives your products may use and determine whether or not they have any potential issues.

The monomer, vinyl chloride, is a carcinogen, and is a concern during the manufacturing of the polymer. Fortunately most, if not all, PVC manufacturers use a much more modern polymerization process that minimizes or eliminates the exposure for its workers. The residual vinyl chloride monomer in a package, while not great for us, probably isn't going to cause cancer. Those that proved the link were the people that had extremely high exposure levels for years. There is differing evidence on whether the production of PVC produces dioxins as a byproduct and how much is produced.

An additional concern is that during combustion PVC creates hydrochloric acid.

Here are some web sites I've found useful as I've researched the topic, they are all world wide web, so take with a grain of salt...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Polyvinylchloride/PVC-Health-HazardPWG2...
http://www.lenntech.com/Polyvinyl-Chloride-PVC.htm

I hope this helps. If you google PVC Health Risks you will actually get some of the FDA and CDC stuff on it as well as some independant university studies. To be completely fair, you will also get a lot of stuff that is written by people who have heard rumors and probably over state the issue (if I remember correctly there is one calling PVC the single greatest risk to human health, even more than smoking).

Combustion

Adam Pawlick

Director of R&D and Engineering, Palermo's Pizza

Industry: Food

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Role: Packager

Sean -

I don't know the details of that. Some of the sources I dug through do talk about how Europe was investigating ways of minimizing the HCl release during combustion, but it didn't go into details. Sorry I'm not more help on this one.

Related Toxics In Packaging Study

Hello, the report found here: http://www.toxicsinpackaging.org/projects_publications.html entitled "Assessment of Heavy Metals in Packaging" found that some flexible PVC contained heavy metals in violation of state laws.

PVC- more information

The information provided above is largely correct, but I'd like to add a few things. First, the outgassing of solvents by vinyl (PVC) is almost always an artifact of PVC processing and is not usually phthalate plasticizers but the solvent used to form the vinyl sheet in the first place, usually cyclohexanone. It has that typical "Beach ball" smell. Plasticizers are bad, but the more common problem with PVC are the additives used to stablize it. When processed, PVC degrades and releases free chlorine, which combines with hydrogen to form HCl. PVC manufacturers often add stabilizers to PVC to reduce the browning that this reaction causes. The 'best' stablizers are polyvalent cations (atoms which readily go to +3 or higher oxidation states). Unfortunately, many of them impart their own color to the PVC; iron's +3 state is brown. Two that do not impart color are lead and chromium, and that is one of the key problems with PVC. As PVC photodegrades (in a landfill it will not significantly change over hundreds of years) these stabilizers become a part of the dust generated and present health issues when inhaled. Old PVC miniblinds are an example of one route of lead exposure for chilren.

When incinerated, free chlorine is released from PVC to form HCl, another issue. The only way to remove it from the combustion products is through catalytic scrubbing, similar to what is done with coal-fired electrical plant output. It's every expensive and not commonly done. The ash from burned PVC is often toxic, containing high levels of heavy metals. It's best to recycle PVC where possible; most commercial recyclers are equipped to handle this waste stream.

This is probably more technical than you need, but PVC has a lot more hidden 'bad' things about it than just the originating molecule! I hope it helps.

PVC

One point not mentioned by others is that ngos and environmentalists' have been opposed to chlorine since Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" blamed pesticides (most contain chlorine atoms) for a variety of environmental problems (e.g., DDT). Greenpeace has said that chlorine is an invention of the devil.
Since PVC contains chlorine, it has long been under attack. NGOs recognized they could not stop the manufacture of PVC so their strategy has been to proclaim alleged health and environmental issues said to be caused by PVC additives and incineration of PVC. Lead, phthalate plasticizers, mercury, dioxin, and the monomer have all been used to frighten consumers and justify legislation.
One by one all of these issues have been addressed by the PVC industry and various industries using PVC. In some cases process improvements were made and in others (e.g., phthalate plasticizers) substitutes were employed.
On the positive side there is a lot to be said for PVC. It is actually more "sustainable" than it's most common packaging substitute, PET. It takes significantly less petroleum and natural gas and water to produce PVC than PET. Melt processing PVC also consumes less energy primarily because it does not have to be dried.
One myth about PVC that persists is that it can't be recycled. Of course that's not true; post industrial recycling is common and post consumer would be, too, if there was a way to collect a stream. Packaging films are a good candidate for that.

Absolutely true! There are

Absolutely true! There are few economic replacements for PVC in industry, and the uses for it are so widespread that replacing it would be extremely expensive.

Most PVC manufacturers will substitute non-metallic stabilizers and non-phthalate plasticizers into their PVC at a cost; the substitutes are availble, just expensive.

The moral to this story applies to all you use: Reduce, recycle, reuse. What ends up in a landfill will be there hundreds of years from now, no matter what it is. Compost what can be composted, reuse what can be reused, recycle the rest.

PVC?? The Truth- response

Great info above- thanks to all for submitting. One very interesting note about PVC. NGO's (as mentioned above) hate PVC yet they send out their messages on PVC stickers!!! These stickers end up in landfill and our oceans. When we explain this to groups such as Greenpeace they tell us... 'Well, we're doing what we can- we can't do EVERYTHING.'

The 'natural food chains', supermarkets, and natural food brands (ALL of the big ones) use toxic PVC shelf talkers (these have a very short life cycle as a marketing tool and quickly make their way to landfill and WTE plants where they leach out their toxins into our atmosphere.) It's ironic that many of these so called 'environmentally responsible' brands and store chains won't use PLA because of possible GMO but will use toxic PVC- simply because the cost is lower and their consumers are not yet aware of the many dangers of PVC.

PVC??? The Truth

Lead and cadmium are both used in some PVC packages. Go to http://www.toxicsinpackaging.org/adobe/TPCH_Final_Report_June_2007.pdf for a report from the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse on a study they did on toxics in packaging. A follow up study was conducted in 2008. The report from that should be issued in the next month or two.

These are things I didn't

These are things I didn't have any idea about. PVC is sold individually without a box so I don't think there is any sort of warnings listed on it, there should be it seems.