02/09/2012
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 PVC over time raising risks that include asthma, lead poisoning and cancer.
Deadly Fire Hazard:
PVC poses a great risk in building fires, as it releases deadly gases long before it ignites, such as hydrogen chloride which turns to hydrochloric acid when inhaled. As it burns, whether accidentally or in waste incineration, it releases yet more toxic dioxins. PVC burning in landfill fires may now be the single largest source of dioxin releases to the environment.
Can't be readily recycled:
The multitudes of additives required to make PVC useful make large scale post consumer recycling nearly impossible for most products and interfere with the recycling of other plastics. Of an estimated 7 billion pounds of PVC thrown away in the US, only 14 million - less than 1/2 of 1 percent - is recycled. The Association of Post Consumer Plastics Recyclers declared efforts to recycle PVC a failure and labeled it a contaminant in 1998.
