PVC and the Environment

1

• PVC and the Environment
• Lets put the record straight!

2
Opinions of PVC

1. PVC is dangerous it is produced from noxious
   chlorine
2. PVC is dangerous to manufacture
3. PVC is unsafe to use
4. PVC is difficult to dispose of
5. PVC cannot be recycled
6. PVC burdens the incinerator
7. PVC production causes dioxin emission
8. PVC is a waste of oil and other resources
9. PVC productions waste energy
10. PVC has a major share in the Greenhouse Effect

3
PVC is not dangerous because it contains
chlorine

• Chlorine is one of the most common naturally
  occurring elements
• Literally millions of tonnes of organo-chlorine
  compounds are produced each year in nature
• Chlorine is used for life-saving medicines and
  essential water treatments to protect people
  against deadly bacteria, germs and diseases
• Life itself could not exist without chlorine
  chemistry

4
PVC is not dangerous because it contains chlorine
A world without chlorine would resemble a science-fiction scene of the worst kind - where surgeons operate without sutures and doctors treat intensive-care patients without IV tubes or oxygen tents. Instead of turning the publics attention - as well as precious time and resources - to the fictitious threat of table salt, groups like Greenpeace should spend their time tackling the real monsters of our world today - such as AIDS, cancer, hunger and violence

• Prof. J.Gordon Edwards, Professor of Biology and
  Entomology at San Jose University, USA, November
  1997.

5
PVC is not dangerous to manufacture

• Occupational exposure problems with Vinyl
  Chloride Monomer (VCM) were identified and solved
  by the industry 30 years ago
• Emissions from VCM and PVC manufacturing plants
  are tightly controlled within safe regulatory
  limits

6
PVC is not dangerous to manufacture

• Claims that PVC factories emit significant
  amounts of dioxins are untrue
• INEOS is a signatory to the EVCM Charter for the
  manufacture of PVC and VCM which commits
  manufacturers to meet environmental standards in
  PVC and VCM production and voluntarily goes
  beyond regulatory requirements

7
PVC is safe to use

• The use of PVC and its additives in food contact,
  drinking water and medical applications are
  extremely regulated
• PVC is used in many life-saving applications
• PVC is used in many safety-critical applications
• PVC is used in many applications where hygiene
  considerations are paramount

8
PVC is safe to use

• Stabilisers used in PVC formulations are
  integrated in the polymer matrix and represent no
  danger to public or environmental health
• PVC has excellent fire protection properties. It
  is difficult to ignite and inherently fire
  retardant
• When PVC does burn, the combustion products are
  relatively less toxic than combustion products
  from many other natural and synthetic materials

9
PVC is safe to use

• Health authorities world wide have rated PVC
  films as being harmless and as a result they are
  used in fields such as food packaging and medical
  equipment.
• PVC pipes have been employed trouble-free for the
  transportation of our drinking and industrial
  water as well as for chemicals for over 50 years
  now. In contrast to other materials, PVC pipes
  are not attacked by aggressive soils.
• Building materials (guttering, window frames and
  facade covering) have a life expectancy of at
  least 20 years with a minimum of maintenance.

10
PVC is safe to use

• PVC has been mass-produced and utilised for more
  than 60 years now
• PVC has been thoroughly researched and
  continuously improved
• There has been more positive knowledge gathered
  from studies and long-term testing of PVC than
  about other plastic
• The amount of dioxin released during PVC
  manufacturing is tightly regulated and the
  overall amount of dioxin releases is
  insignificant compared to other dioxin sources

11
PVC is safe to use

• Rigid PVC Films from INEOS
• Contain no phthalates
• Contain no cadmium or lead stabilisers
• Are physiologically safe
• Are approved for packaging applications by the
  German Bundesgesundheitsamt (Federal Health
  Office)
• PVC does not contain dioxin!

12
PVC is safe to use
As far as I am aware, no member of the public has ever been harmed by PVC, and many people owe their lives to it. It is time we learned to live in peace with a rather wonderful plastic.
Dr. John Emsley, writer of the award -winning Consumers Good Chemical Guide,UK, 1994.

The only way you could harm anyone with PVC is to hit them over the head with a large piece of it
Prof. Michael Gallagher, Professor of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, January 1996.
PVC is perfectly safe and this is why it is used for bottles for mineral water, bags for blood transfusions, and fine bore tubing that is inserted into premature babies.
DTI, Chemicals and Biotechnology Division, Technology Foresight Document, UK Government, March 1996.
13
PVC waste is safely managed

• Based on current knowledge, the National EPA
  (Environmental Protection Agency) has concluded
  that the methods used today for the management of
  PVC waste, namely landfill disposal and
  incineration for energy recovery, can continue to
  be accepted from an environmental viewpoint.It
  is acceptable from a health and environmental
  viewpoint to re-use products, or process and
  re-use products, made of recycled PVC...
• Swedish EPA, June 1996.

14
PVC waste is safely managed

• PVC applications typically have a long life-cycle
  which reduces the need for product replacement
  and waste
• Virtually all manufacturing waste and a large
  proportion of installation waste are already
  being recycled
• Post-use recycling schemes are operating for
  major PVC product applications
• Post-use PVC products Made in Germany are
  perfectly safe. They have a completely neutral
  affect on the environment.

15
PVC waste is safely managed

• There are 2 main methods of disposal
• Recycling
• Combustion
• As well in the landfill, PVC still plays an
  important role.

16
PVC recycling

• Mechanical recycling
• The mechanical recycling process is preferred
  when the different types of products in the waste
  stream can be easily separated and sorted. After
  extracting other substances, the sorted PVC
  products are ground and cleaned for reprocessing
  into new products. Today, PVC products such as
  bottles, pipes, windows, cables and flooring are
  being successfully recycled.
• e.g. in Behringen/Thüringen and Rahden,
  Westfalen Germany

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PVC recycling

• Feedstock recycling
• Feedstock recycling is the chosen option when
  mixtures of plastics or multi-material products
  cannot be economically separated into pure
  streams. In this process, polymers, including
  PVC, are thermally broken down into their
  chemical raw materials which can then be purified
  and recycled as feed stocks to petrochemical or
  polymers production plants.(PVC thermo
  splitting)

18
PVC in the landfill

• PVC helps to form a safe, stable landfill. All
  the evidence shows that the PVC polymer itself
  does not degrade and that its additives do not
  produce harmful gas or leach ate concentrations.
  PVC products made in Germany have a completely
  neutral affect on the environment.
• PVC films are even used to seal tips in order to
  avoid contamination of natural water sources.

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Incineration of PVC

• The energy potential of PVC in an incinerator is
  much higher than the energy potential of coal
• Burning temperatures, cooling temperatures and
  rates are critical for the reduction of toxic
  gases within the incinerator
• PVC is not decisive for the production of dioxin
  in the waste
• PVC has no influence on the production of dioxin
  during the combustion of garbage

20
PVC waste is safely managed

• Extensive studies in several countries have all
  concluded, that the removal of PVC from the waste
  stream has no effect on the amount of dioxins
  produced when waste is incinerated
• The contribution of all acid gases from the
  burning of PVC is less than 0.25

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Incineration of PVC

• Only 50 of the proportion of HCl arising in an
  incinerator is caused by PVC. The other 50 is
  caused by chlorine contained in paper, food,
  plant fibres etc. The HCl is neutralised and the
  arising calcium chloride (salt) is reused.
• Emission controls to prevent acid gas emission
  from the waste incinerators are required, even if
  no PVC is in the waste stream

22
Incineration of PVC Salt Cycle

• By adding water during the flue gas washing, HCl
  arises. This HCl is purified and neutralised by
  the suspension of calcium hydroxide in the water.
  This creates salt again which is used by the
  chemical industry again

23
Incineration of PVC CO2 Emission
PS, PE, PP and PET have a remarkable higher CO2
emission rate during the incineration than PVC. (
the salt does not burn). PVC therefore helps to
reduce the CO2 emission.
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Fire behaviour

• PVC is self-extinguishing if the flame is taken
  away. It only burns with other materials
• PS, PP and PET are easily inflammable. PS drops
  when burning
• PVC has no special position in terms of toxic
  fire gases.

25
Dioxin Emission
Many countries have found metal production and manufacturing, historical use of chlorinated phenols, and incineration in poor combustors to be important dioxin sources, not PVC. Additionally, my group has shown natural formation of dioxins in compost, sewage sludge, and sediments can also play an important role.
Prof. Christoffer Rappe, Professor of Environmental Chemistry, Umea University, Sweden, July 1997.

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Dioxin emissions

• Dioxin emissions from the UKs largest VCM and
  PVC manufacturing facility lt0.05g TEQ p.a. rate
• Dioxin emissions from engines of Deep Sea Tug (of
  the type favoured by some environmental NGOs)
  0.07g TEQ p.a. rate (source TNO study)
• TEQ Toxic Equivalent

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TEQ Method

• TEQ Method
• Toxic Equivalents, or TEQs, are used to report
  the toxicity-weighted masses of mixtures of
  PCDD/Fs. The TEQ method of dioxin reporting is
  more meaningful than simply reporting the total
  number of grams of a mixture of variously toxic
  compounds because the TEQ method offers toxicity
  information about the mixture.

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Dioxin emissions

• Dioxin emissions of the industry is strictly
  regulated
• The highest Dioxin concentration allowed from
  industrial discharges is 0.1ng/cubic metre of
  emission.
• The Dioxin concentration in the vicinity of a
  standard BBQ cooking meat has been measured as
  0.7ng/cubic metre i.e. 7 times the industrial
  concentration limit. (Robin des Bois, France,
  2003)
• The PVC industry makes an insignificant and
  reducing contribution to total dioxin emissions
• The PVC industry continues to deliver
  improvements in the efficiency of its
  manufacturing processes. Emissions from PVC
  manufacturing represent less than 0.05 of the
  total material processed.

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PVC does not waste resources

• Feedstock resources for PVC
• 57 of the Molecular Weight (MW) of PVC is
  chlorine derived from salt
• 50 Quadrillion T of dissolved salt are in the
  worlds seas - enough to put a layer around the
  world 45 metres thick
• 200 Billion T of salt deposits underground
• The remainder of the MW is from hydrocarbon
  feedstocks
• Ethylene from oil (equivalent to circa 0.3 of
  annual oil use)
• Ethylene from sugar crops is also used for PVC
  production.
• Advantages of salt abundance low reliance on
  hydrocarbon resources.

30
PVC does not waste resources

• PVC contains 43 crude oil and 57 salt
• PET, PP and PS are 100 based on crude oil
• Quantity of oil needed to produce 1 kg

PET 1,9 kg
PS 1,3 kg
PVC 0,5 kg
31
PVC productions is not energy consuming

• Energy needed to produce 1 kg of
• PVC 56.50 MJ
• PP 70.00 MJ
• PET 83.81 MJ
• GPPS 86.28 MJ (general purpose PS)
• HIPS 90.74 MJ (high impact PS)

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PVC productions is not energy consuming

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PVC productions is not energy consuming
Source Software GaBi 4 Database PE Europe
34
PVC is not energy consuming
4 PVC
96 water
37 glass
63 water
By using PVC bottles, 60 more product is
delivered, 80 less packaging and 40 less
petrol are needed.
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Emission Greenhouse Effect

• The emission during production of 1 kg of

PVC GPPS HIPS PET
mg CO2 2,000,000 2,600,000 2,800,000 2,330,000
mg SOx 8,200 11,000 12,000 25,000
mg NOx 9,600 12,600 12,000 20,200
mg HCl 150 26 35 110
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PVC productions is not energy consuming

• PVC manufacture uses less energy than other
  plastics (including bio plastics). Carbon Dioxide
  emissions associated with PVC manufacture are
  correspondingly low.
• We could always look into the possibility of
  making PVC products CARBON NEUTRAL by investing
  in carbon offset, of course there will be
  additional costs but this could well provide a
  conscience free substrate
• The CO2 emission of a human being is
  300 kg p.a.

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Conclusion

• The PVC industry has developed a good knowledge
  of
• sustainability.
• PVC has many economic, social and environmental
  
• sustainability advantages as compared to
  competing
• materials, however there is still more we can
  do.
• The PVC industry has invested heavily in
  sustainable
• development and the Vinyl 2010 programme is
  receiving
• recognition.
• Some competing materials claim environmental and
  
• sustainability advantages over PVC this is
  usually
• based either on myths about the environmental
  impact of
• PVC or unjustifiably biased opinions about
  the competing
• materials.