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Environment

PVC Targeted As Hazardous Waste

by Glenn Hess
September 1, 2014 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 92, Issue 35

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Credit: Shutterstock
Worker cuts PVC (polychlorinated vinyl) pipe.
Credit: Shutterstock

The Center for Biological Diversity is urging EPA to classify polyvinyl chloride as hazardous waste and to develop regulations for its safe disposal. A petition the activist group filed with EPA contends that discarded PVC plastic is “one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created.” PVC should be regulated under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, the federal law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste, the group says. “It’s time for EPA to do its job and prevent plastic trash from poisoning our environment,” says Emily Jeffers, an attorney at the San Francisco-based center. But Richard M. Doyle, president of the Vinyl Institute, which represents PVC producers, says the claims in the petition are “incomprehensible and contrary to decades of experience, not to mention common sense.” He says government health and safety agencies worldwide have studied vinyl and recognize the importance of PVC products.

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