Along the PVC’s life we could consider three stages:
Manufacturing
PVC is manufactured from natural salt : sodium chloride (Na Cl) and ethylene, under the strictest security measures and certifications. In the factories, the raw materials are handled in the safest way.
As intermediates in the production process we may mention chlorine, ethylene dichloride (EDC), and vinyl chloride (VCM, the monomer of PVC).
Product life
Product life starts from the moment PVC is sent to customers, usually in the form of a powder, usually called a “resin”, to be processed into particular objects and finishes when the end of life of these products has been reached. Some PVC qualities however are in the form of a liquid emulsion, called latex.
During this stage, the intrinsic properties of PVC are the most relevant factors. As for most polymers, PVC in the final product is an inert material.
All PVC manufacturers have available technical data sheets and safety data sheets that allow the optimum use and handling for each resin by their customers in their applications. This information is available for SolVin products from its web site.
Properties
Once processors have manufactured their particular products, the aspects to be taken into account are included in the chapter “Properties”.
Among the properties we will underline in this chapter is the stability of PVC, which is also chemically inert and thus non toxic. So simple like that. PVC is 100% safe in its uses and applications, and a majority of them are regulated by standards that ensure the PVC’s suitability.
You can also see particular applications of PVC in our chapter “Markets and applications”.
End of life/Recycling
There is a chapter dedicated to this stage.
a. General
1. Which steps in the whole cycle life of PVC must we consider related to Health safety and environmental issues?
b. Manufacturing
2. What are the most relevant aspects during the manufacturing stage?
3. How is obtained the chlorine?
4. Is the electrolysis a very intensive process? Is its use sustainable?
5. What is the role of chlorine in our lives and in the PVC?
6. How is handled chlorine in the PVC manufacturing?
7. Is chlorine production creating Hg emissions? Isn’t this an additional reason to stop producing chlorine?
8. Why not get rid of Cl, a purely man-made product, which we don’t need ?
9. Is PVC production very dangerous for workers?
10. What is done to protect workers from vinyl chloride monomer, which is carcinogenic?
11. Are large amounts of VCM emitted during PVC production?
12. Is transport of VCM worth the risk?
13. What is done with toxic by-products of VCM production?
14. Is PVC production an important source of dioxin emissions?
c. Life of the product
15. Does PVC contain dioxins?
15b. What is the environnmental product declaration?
16. Do PVC producers merely meet minimum legal regulations?
17. Why is PVC good for sustainable development (environment, economy, society)?
18. Why not ban PVC for packaging?
19. How does PVC industry demonstrate its long-term commitments?
20. Does PVC have a place in sustainable development?
21. If we want to save oil, we should not use PVC which is made from oil ?
22. It is available additional information about the PVC manufacturing stage?
23. All the activities related to PVC manufacturing are made inside the factories, and for every single plant exist all the security measures available today, and certifications issued by official institutions. But, what about the PVC once is obtained?
24. And what about PVC final products manufactured by the converters?
25. What is the risk related to possible explosion of PVC dust (ATEX Directive)?
d. End of life / Recycling
There is a whole chapter dedicated to the a.m. issue.
a. General
1. What steps in the whole cycle life of PVC must we consider related to health safety and environmental issues?
We must highlight three steps:
- Manufacturing
- Life of the product
- End of life/recycling
2. What are the most relevant aspects along the whole manufacturing stage of PVC?
The production of chlorine, the production of VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) ,and its polymerisation into PVC.
3. How is chlorine produced?
The process is called “electrolysis”. Chlorine is produced by passing a current through a water solution of natural salt (sodium chloride) called brine. Thousand kg of salt yields around 600 kg of chlorine, 680 kg of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and 17 kg of hydrogen.
4. Is the electrolysis a very energy intensive process? Is its use sustainable?
Electrolysis of salt is a basic process to get important raw materials used in the chemical industry. Some 9 million tons of chlorine are yearly produced in Western Europe and used in more than half of all chemical activities.
Electrolysis plants consume a substantial amount of energy but despite this, overall, PVC production uses less energy than the production of most alternative polymers that are 100 % oil-derived materials ; this is demonstrated by comparative eco-profile data.
Chlorine is mostly used to produce plastics like PVC (34%), polyurethanes (23%), polycarbonates and silicones. A smaller amount is used to disinfect 98% of Western Europe’s drinking water and to produce other chemicals. Sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda, produced during the electrolysis is important for the manufacture of paper, soap and textiles and other applications. Hydrogen, also produced during the electrolysis is either used in chemistry or to generate energy.
Since both chlorine and sodium hydroxide are produced in a highly efficient way, they are also a good basis for low cost materials.
In summary, electrolysis globally yields products requiring relatively low energy. Being low cost, they represent an important economic and social contribution to sustainable development provided that, like in modern production units, the environmental impact of their production is low .(for more information on chlorine see www.eurochlor.org).
5. What are the sources of chlorine and what is its role in our lives and in PVC?
Chlorine is one of the most common elements in nature, where it is even more plentiful than carbon. Many people know that common salt contains more than 60 % of chlorine, and contrary to what many people may sometimes believe, organic substances containing chlorine are also very common in nature. Important natural sources of organochlorined compounds are the oceans, forest fires and fungal activity. Scientists have identified more than 3,000 naturally-occurring chlorine-based substances. They are made by marine organisms (sponges, corals, sea slugs, jellyfish and seaweeds), plants, seeds, fungi, lichens, bacteria, freshwater algae and insects. Some phytoplankton and seaweeds produce chlorinated metabolites tentatively identified as trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, substances well known as chlorinated solvents. The oceans naturally release some three million tonnes of methyl chloride into the atmosphere every year.
In the PVC resin, the presence of chlorine confers some unique advantages : Lower use of non-renewable oil resources, high chemical and fire resistance properties are among the benefits given by chlorine to PVC. Chlorine is also a key building block that underpins more than half of the Western European chemical (and also pharmaceutical) industry and all its downstream uses.
6. How is chlorine handled in the PVC manufacturing process?
Nowadays chlorine is usually produced and used on the same industrial site. It is thus less and less often stored or transported. In Western Europe, chlorine transport declined from 15% in 1995 to less than 10% in 2005 of which more than 75% was shipped by rail. However, since some chlorine is also used by industry to make a large range of products, some quantities have still to be transported. Stringent safety measures are taken for the transport of chlorine and in particular specially-designed steel containers, ranging from cylinders carrying a few kilograms of chlorine to road and rail tank wagons containing several tonnes. In Europe, the Regulations concerning the International Transport of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID), were recently upgraded for chlorine rail tankers.
A Europe-wide chlorine transport emergency system is in place which provides expert technical assistance where needed. It has to be underlined that chlorine was transported throughout Europe for almost 50 years without any single fatality.
7. Is chlorine production related to mercury (Hg) emissions? Isn’t this a reason to stop producing chlorine?
Chlorine is produced by passing electricity through a solution of common salt (NaCl) via a positive electrode (named anode) and a negative electrode (named cathode). Today a majority of Western European plants still have a process based on the use of metallic mercury as cathode, but change to new membrane technology using no mercury is speeding up and will substitute more and more mercury units. Mercury has the property to keep separated the highly reactive chlorine and sodium ions produced, which is essential for a safe and efficient plant operation.
As mercury is a toxic metal, the industry has improved the performance of its mercury based electrolysis plants and reduced their emissions to a level below the most stringent regulations ensuring the absence of environmental impact. .
Mercury emissions were reduced by over 85% in the past decade, to reach 10 tonnes (1997) and even less today. This should be compared with estimated global total man-made and natural emissions of 20,000 tonnes per year.
Furthermore, when they reach the end of their economic life, the mercury-units are replaced by units based on a membrane technology which is also more energy efficient.
8. Why not getting rid of Chlorine, a purely man-made product, which we do not need?
Because it is not necessary. We use all the chlorine produced, and we do not store it. Chlorine can be used successfully in a lot of applications, and is not necessary to get rid of it.
9. Is PVC production very dangerous for workers?
Some people believe that work in the chemical industry in general is dangerous, and hence also PVC production. And there were indeed really important negative impacts due to carcinogenic Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) until the seventies, when this carcinogenic property was detected. Not knowing about this hazard, VCM was used before even as a narcotic gas in hospitals! After this hazard was identified very fast and highly effective measures were taken. This remains today an example quoted how to solve such a problem.
In general, the levels of hazardous substances in the atmosphere of chemical plants is closely monitored and controlled. Control of emissions, personal protection, training and medical control of plant personnel ensure that exposure remains well within the margins of safety. The frequency and severity of accidents is extremely very low today in the chemical industry, much lower than the average of the total industry and this lowering of accident numbers goes on, many companies in the chemical industry aim for a “zero accident future”.
10. What is done to protect workers from vinyl chloride monomer, which is carcinogenic?
Most cases of cancer have no known cause but some are related to the exposure to certain chemicals, including VCM. From information on cancers in general, it is known that one single exposure does not develop a cancer. Only workers repeatedly exposed during many years to high levels (orders of magnitude higher than those currently permitted) have developed Angiosarcoma of the Liver (ASL). ASL is a very rare form of cancer of the blood vessels of the liver which has been known to pathologists for very many years.
Once it was known that there was a relationship with VCM, the association of Angiosarcoma of the Liver (ASL) with occupational exposure to VCM was established in 1974.
Once this association was established, industry led the way in reducing exposures drastically. We do not believe that any worker who started work after 1975 is currently at risk in plants located in the countries (such as Western Europe) where strict controls were introduced following the discovery of this problem. Some new cases of ASL may however still appear in workers who had high exposures before 1975.
Maximum permitted exposures are now set out in an E.U. Directive. Expert opinion and research has led European governments to be convinced that an exposure of 3 ppm during 8 hours a day through a full career of 40 years poses no significant risk to health. Typical levels in VCM and PVC manufacturing plants are lower and are monitored continuously.
To date only ASL has been definitely linked to vinyl chloride exposure. Possible associations have been reported between exposure to high levels of VCM and other types of cancers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently completed a very comprehensive study. No association was found with lung or brain cancer. For other cancers the data did not allow to conclude. Only for cancer of liver cells there was suggestion of a possible association, but the risk appears to be lower than for ASL and hence the current regulations are considered adequate.
11. Are large amounts of VCM emitted during PVC production?
The European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) which represents most of the European EDC/VCM/PVC producers has issued two industry Charters:
Industry Charter for the Production of VCM and PVC (suspension process), in 1994
Industry Charter for the Production of Emulsion PVC, in 1998.
Among other commitments, these Charters set tight limits on VCM emissions from VCM and PVC plants as well as on the maximum amount of residual VCM present in PVC resin.
The inter-governmental Oslo and Paris Commissions for the Protection of the North Sea (OSPAR) later issued two Decisions on emissions from VCM and suspension PVC plants as well as a Recommendation on emissions from emulsion PVC plants. The limits imposed by OSPAR for VCM emissions are broadly in line with the limits specified in the Charters.
In 1999, the companies that signed the 1994 charter underwent a third party verification by an independent consultant (Det Norske Veritas - DNV). A new verification has been completed. A verification of compliance with the emulsion PVC Charter was completed in 2004. More information on: http://www.ecvm.org/img/db/ECVMPublicStatement2002.doc
http://www.ecvm.org/img/db/E-PVCPublicStatement2005.pdf
As a result of industry efforts, the total yearly emissions of VCM to atmosphere from all plants of the companies that signed the Charters have gone down from 7694 tons in 1989 to 1062 tons in 1999. This represented less than 200 g per ton of PVC produced. A recent eco-profile of the PVC industry showed that the emissions of VCM related to the production of suspension PVC (the most common type of PVC) are now around 75 g per ton of PVC produced.
12. Is transport of VCM worth the risk?
Transporting VCM presents the same risks as transporting other flammable materials such as propane, butane or natural gas, for which the same safety regulations apply.
For many years now there has been a trend in the industry towards integrated plants where both VCM and PVC are manufactured on the same site. As logistics costs increase further we expect this trend to continue, however VCM transport will still be needed for some smaller PVC plants that do not require sufficient quantities of VCM to make on-site production feasible.
When VCM is transported the tankers used are designed and constructed to the highest standards to resist impact and corrosion. The routes for road tankers are controlled and monitored to avoid heavily populated areas and the drivers of tanker trucks are specially trained. Risk assessments are conducted to make sure that the lowest risk transport option is selected and in some cases this has resulted in the industry taking on accepting additional logistics costs to make risks as low as possible.
We are not aware of any fatal accidents in Europe involving the transport of VCM over the last 50 years.
13. What is done with toxic by-products of VCM production?
First of all, use of Best Available Techniques includes taking measures to suppress by-product formation. This makes both economic and environmental sense.
Techniques for the prevention of emissions to atmosphere include capturing vent gases, which are treated by scrubbing, filtration for removal of particulate matter, and subsequently by thermal oxidation in dedicated units or in a hazardous waste incinerator.
Techniques for the prevention of discharges into water include appropriate recycling of streams back into the process, stripping of volatile pollutants, alkaline treatment of streams containing less volatile chlorinated organics to convert them to inorganic chloride. Biological treatment of the pre-treated wastes reduces residual pollutants to acceptable levels, for example by concentrating them into the activated sludge for subsequent solid waste treatment. Any dioxins produced and not destroyed within the process are segregated into the solid waste stream.
Heavy end tars from distillation are recycled into the process or destroyed by incineration or equivalent technologies. The chlorine is recovered in the form of HCl and usually recycled into the production process.
All solid wastes containing organic by-products, including spent catalyst from oxychlorination, are appropriately treated as hazardous wastes because of their organics content.
14. Is PVC production an important source of dioxin emissions?
The chemicals industry as a whole, and the PVC production chain in particular, are only very minor contributors to dioxins’ emissions throughout the world (much less than 1 %). As an example, a survey carried out in 1993 attributed to the entire chemical industry only 0.5 g/year of dioxin emissions out of a total of 484 g emitted per year in the Netherlands.
US PVC manufacturers carried out in 2001 an extensive monitoring programme, to evaluate the extent of dioxins releases to the open environment as well as to secure landfill. The most likely estimate was 32 g I-TEQ/yr with approximately 12 g being released into the open environment and about 19 g disposed of in secure landfill. This compared to a total released to air of several thousands of grams.
A recent eco-profile of the PVC industry showed that the total emissions of dioxins in Western Europe related to the production of PVC are now around 2 g I-TEQ per year
Formation of very small quantities of dioxins can only occur in the ethylene oxychlorination, which is one of the process steps leading to the production of VCM. These dioxin molecules are adsorbed by the solid catalyst and hence are easily contained by filtration and controlled treatment of this catalyst.
The production of PVC itself and of PVC-based products takes place at temperatures far below those required for dioxin formation.
15. Does PVC contain dioxins?
There is no detectable amount of dioxins in the PVC resin sold by ECVM member companies. A study published in the open literature, dating from 1998, demonstrated that virgin suspension from 11 major production sites in Europe does not contain any process generated dioxins at concentrations above the limits of quantification (2 parts per trillion).
15b. What is the environnmental product declaration?
This Environnmental Product Declaration (EPD) is based unpon life cycle inventory (LCI) data from PlasticsEurope’s Eco-profile programme. It has been prepared according to PlasticEurope’s Product Category Rules (PCR) for Uncompounded Polymer Resins and Reactive Polymer Precursors (June 2006). EPDs provide environmental performance data, but no information on the economic and social aspects which would be necessary for a complete sustainability assessment. Further, they do not imply a value judgment between environmental criteria.
This EPD describes the production of the PVC polymer. Please keep in mind that comparisons cannot be made on the level of polymers: it is necessary to consider the full life cycle of an application in order to compare the performance of different materials and the effects of relevant life cycle parameters. This EPD is intended to be used by member companies, to support product-orientated environnmental management; by users of plastics, as a building block of life cycle assessment (LCA) stuies of individual products; and by other interested parties, as a source of life cycle information.
The E-PVC and S-PVC EPD have now been published on the Web site of PlasticsEurope.
http://www.plasticseurope.org/Content/Default.asp?PageID=1336
These EPDs are also on the Web site of ECVM and PVC Info.
16. Do PVC producers merely meet minimum legal regulations?
The targets of the PVC producers are more ambitious than that:
The PVC industry* is uniting voluntarily to meet the challenge of sustainable development. It has developed an integrated approach to deliver responsible cradle-to-grave management, set out in a 'Voluntary Commitment of the PVC Industry' that was signed in March 2000. This Commitment is now known under the name “Vinyl 2010”.
The Voluntary Commitment builds on principles of the chemical industry's Responsible Care® programme and addresses key issues across the PVC lifecycle. It contains quantifiable targets, with interim deadlines, that will allow the industry to track its progress towards achieving the overall objectives.
The Voluntary Commitment progress reports from the European PVC industry show that they have been forging ahead with continuous environmental improvement and resource efficiency through a 'learning by doing' approach, strengthening the partnership within their supply chain. The industry delivers quantifiable results.
More information on www.vinyl2010.org.
17. Why is PVC good for sustainable development (environment, economy, society)?
Since the acceptance of the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) (world conferences of Rio de Janeiro 1992 and others) it became accepted that SD is based on three pillars, namely ecology, economy and society.
The environmental impact of PVC products has been investigated in numerous studies, quantified in many life cycle analyses and compared many times to products made from alternative materials. The latest and most comprehensive study was a Review commissioned by the EU. It showed PVC products to be comparable to alternatives in their environmental impact. The strongest aspects of PVC products are performance and cost; PVC products are amongst the lowest cost products for a given performance. Low cost products can positively contribute to all areas of SD:
• Low cost products save scarce money, so they are favourable to a sustainable economic development.
• Low cost products are more affordable to socially disadvantaged people, not only in industrialised but more so in developing countries and the saved money can be used to optimise social development. Both points are favourable to a sustainable social development.
• The money saved by low cost products can be used to optimise ecological development, so they are favourable to a sustainable ecological development too.
The huge potential impact of low cost products made from PVC can be shown easily: With only 0.5 % of the cost of PVC-products one can compensate the entire energy demand (100 %!) and the entire Greenhouse Gas effect (100%!) caused by them. Investing this small amount of money into environmental improvements allows it to create products which are much better in these important environmental categories than all alternatives.
The social aspect of products is not assessed well enough up to now, except for the positive economical/social points mentioned above in this chapter and the health impacts on workers in the PVC industry: After many years of sustained efforts, workers safety has reached a very high standard in the chemical industry altogether compared to other industries.
18. Why not banning PVC for packaging?
PVC was one of the first polymers used in food packaging applications that replaced many traditional materials such as glass as well as various forms of card and paper. Some of the key reasons for its success compared to traditional materials are highlighted below:
• PVC is lightweight compared with glass, with the added benefit of reduced transport emissions
• It is shatter resistant which was seen as an immense benefit as it would reduce the number of accidents in the home and outside.
• PVC has excellent organoleptic properties which means that it imparts no taint or taste to foodstuffs
• PVC has excellent barrier properties for the preservation of food
• Innovative designs and product shapes can be achieved and all with excellent clarity and transparency
Compared to other thermoplastics PVC offers some unique properties and these include:
• A wider range of additives can be used in PVC compared to any other polymer (this is due to its polar nature). So PVC in packaging can have a diverse range of applications from rigid thermoformed sheet – used in sandwich cartons, through to soft cling film – used in the preservation of food
• It can be formed into products requiring complex shapes such as those with blown handles
• PVC is very easy to print on.
• Excellent cost/performance ratio
PVC is fully approved for use in food contact applications throughout the world. Many of the additives currently used in PVC are already on European incomplete additives lists such as those set out in EC Directive 2002/72 and later amendments.
There are various options for PVC packaging at end-of-life. Like any other thermoplastic, PVC can be mechanically recycled and recycling programmes have been established throughout Europe for both bottles and trays. Other options are possible.
In summary, PVC packaging plays an important role in the protection of a variety of foodstuffs, from specialised tamper-proof packaging to commodity food display trays.
Banning PVC in packaging would reduce the freedom of choice to the consumer with no added benefit to the environment.
19. How does PVC industry demonstrate its long-term commitments?
The PVC industry has a long record of public commitments. It started with commitments towards continuous environmental improvement in manufacturing, as illustrated by the two Charters signed by European PVC producers that establish tough environmental standards for production ahead of legislation (see question 8). Substantial reductions of industrial emission levels have been achieved as a result.
European PVC industry employers signed in October 2000 a social dialogue charter on issues surrounding the sector's future and their potential social effects on employees.
Through this charter, the PVC industry commits in particular to:
• The development of European health, safety and environmental standards
• The development of standards for employees’ initial and further training
• The transfer of standards to EU accession countries
• A dialogue on European works councils about e.g. the development of the PVC industry against the backdrop of European policy.
In March 2000, the resin producers, additives producers and converters signed a “Voluntary Commitment of the PVC Industry”. It was further developed and re-issued in October 2001 under the title “Vinyl 2010 - the Voluntary Commitment of the PVC Industry”. It was again updated in May 2006. With this document, the PVC industry undertakes to implement important actions covering the period 2000 – 2010 and beyond, which will apply to
• PVC manufacture
• Additives - plasticisers and stabilisers
• Waste management
• Social progress and dialogue
• Management, monitoring and financial scheme
Progress towards these commitments is documented in the Progress Reports issued each year since 2001. These reports are verified by an independent third party. For more information, consult www.vinyl2010.org
Never before has a voluntary approach been developed through such an open process and covered an entire production chain and all the aspects of sustainable development
20. Does PVC have a place in sustainable development?
Several sustainability assessments have been conducted on PVC. PVC products generally rate very well in terms of environmental, economic and social sustainability. Voluntary sustainable development actions have been identified, with the Vinyl 2010 commitment.
It has been shown that competing materials and products, both natural and synthetic, that have been scrutinized in the same way face similar, and often greater, sustainability challenges compared to PVC products.
21. If we want to save oil, should we avoid using PVC which is made from oil?
Oil, gas and coal are non renewable resources and will be eventually exhausted . Connected to their use are also carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which create the Greenhouse Effect as most scientists believe. Some organisations therefore ask not to use products made from plastics and substitute them by products made from renewable resources.
As discussed, most products from plastics and even more so from PVC are low cost products. In the case of PVC, with only some 0.5 % of the cost one can compensate for 100% of the energy demand (i.e. also for the oil, gas etc. used to produce them) and for 100% of the greenhouse effect related to the production of these products. The compensation can be achieved by investing this 0.5 % in an energy (and at the same time Greenhouse effect) saving activity, e.g. in developing countries.
So one can rightly claim to: “Save oil and Greenhouse effect with low cost products made from oil!”, by only using a small amount of money to compensate for these impacts. This is much more efficient than using higher cost products made from renewable resources.
PVC is in addition a special plastic, since it uses less oil, gas etc. due to its high chlorine content. Besides, this oil can be substituted by renewable resources when the conditions are right; this is practised e.g. by companies producing PVC in India dehydrating bio-alcohol to ethylene and using this ethylene to produce PVC.
22. Is there available additional information about the PVC manufacturing stage?
Yes,and it is deeply relevant. As it have been mentioned, the manufacturing stage is made inside the factories of the PVC industry. This activity is widely certificate by official associations in each case.
These certifications that concern the whole activity developed inside our factories, guarantee the highest (above the legislation) levels of security and respect with the environment.
SolVin has audits and certificates in all plants following the ISO 9001 (Process),and the ISO14001 (Environment Management). Both indicates an additional concern about the two mentioned aspects.
23. All the activities related to PVC manufacturing are made inside the factories, but what about the PVC once it is obtained?
Once PVC is obtained, no particular security measures are needed. PVC is a polymer with no chemical reactivity .Among the commercial plastics, PVC is the one that has the better fire resistance. Nevertheless, we have technical data sheets and safety data sheets available from our web site and delivered to users.
24. What about final PVC products manufactured by the converters?
There is a huge range of certifications for final PVC products. In each case an official institution is responsible to elaborate standards for the requested use. Many of these standards request a high level of quality and additional guarantees, establish a relation product-application (example: PVC pipes for drinking water).
Of course all the PVC products, properly converted, meet the specific regulations, and in addition, more strict requirements if they are made according to specific standards.
The list of standards is so long that is impossible to include it here.
25. What is the risk related to possible explosion of PVC dust (ATEX Directive)?
The risk of explosion of PVC dust is extremely low. Click here to get the position paper about the application to PVC powder of European Directive.
http://www.solvinpvc.com/static/wma/pdf/7/9/5/2/PVC_E_S_ATU_RIU_05035_20051223_Annexe-8(position-paper-Solvay-SolVin).pdf
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