Vinyl chloride—the toxic, controversial chemical used to create PVC, a plastic used in luxury vinyl flooring—was the subject of a recent article by Fast Company titled “The dirty truth about your fake wood floors.”
The recent train derailment that caused an evacuation in East Palestine, Ohio, reopened a debate about the safety of transporting and using vinyl chloride, which was one of the toxic chemicals that burned into the atmosphere due to the derailment.
The Fast Company report notes that the majority of vinyl flooring is made in China and that the “first step usually involves making chlorine using mercury, another toxic chemical.” The mercury is subsequently released into the atmosphere and “comes out in the rain over the U.S. and the rest of the world,” according to Jim Vallette, president of Material Research L3C, a company that studies PVC.
The chlorine gas used to make vinyl chloride at Chinese factories has also been linked to cancer in workers who have been exposed to it for long periods of time. The process also creates and releases dioxins, “other potent carcinogens,” into the environment, the article reports.
“When the PVC is made, other additives are used to turn it into flooring; some Chinese factories use lead (also toxic) and phthalate plasticizers, another probable carcinogen that can also cause reproductive problems,” Fast Company reported. “Asbestos is also used in PVC production.”
Luxury vinyl flooring is one of the most common flooring products in the U.S., and the report notes that any incineration of the product has the potential to pollute the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency has not classified PVC scrap as hazardous waste, according to a report by Recycling Today.
Jonsara Ruth, design director for the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design, told Fast Company that the design and building industry has the potential to change the frequency of use of PVC.
“If we start demanding other products and kind of boycotting PVC plastics, then the manufacturers will follow, right?” Ruth said. “We talk to manufacturers all the time, and they say, ‘We’re just making what designers and architects want.'”
