March 23, 2007—The US Green Building Council (USGBC), the national green building organization, has released its long-awaited assessment of the health and environmental impacts of polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) building materials.
The report concludes that PVC, also commonly known as vinyl, is not a healthy building material. A proper accounting of the human health impacts of PVC across its lifecycle, including disposal issues and occupational exposure, finds that PVC leads to the release of dangerous quantities of dioxin and other carcinogens.
The report authors found that, “When we add end of life with accidental landfill fires and backyard burning, the additional risk of dioxin emissions puts PVC consistently among the worst materials for human health impacts.”
The PVC analysis was made in order to inform the USGBC’s LEED Steering Committee on a PVC-related credit within the LEED Green Building Rating System. Citing data uncertainties and mixed environmental performance of some of the building material alternatives studied, the report does not recommend a specific credit on PVC.
Instead the report recommends issue-based credits, specifically suggesting “comprehensive approaches to issues such as bioaccumulative pollutants” and incentives for continuous improvement of materials. It suggested areas for further research and acknowledged the Precautionary Principle as a fundamental principle for the USGBC in guiding decisions based on their findings. The report will now go to the LEED Steering Committee to determine next steps.
The “Assessment of the Technical Basis for a PVC Related Materials Credit for LEED,” dated February 2007, can be found on the USGBC’s Web site. To learn more about PVC, dioxin, and other chemicals of concern in building materials and for reports on the continuing USGBC process addressing them, visit the Healthy Building Network and Pharos Project Web sites.
