Why PVC Should Be Phased Out Of Electronic Devices
PVC - What is it?
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a relatively cheap and widely used chlorinated plastic. It is naturally rigid and in this form is used in many ways, including by the building industry. Through the addition of various chemical additives, including plasticisers to make it flexible and soft, PVC can be used in a diversity of applications. It is in flexible (plasticised) form that it is most often used by the electronics industry, mainly as an insulator and coating for electrical cables.
What's the problem?
PVC presents environmental problems and human health concerns throughout its lifecycle.
Its manufacture involves the use of hazardous raw materials, including the basic building block of the plastic, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) which is explosive, highly toxic and carcinogenic. PVC production facilities have a long history of generating complex and hazardous chlorinated wastes, some of which are inevitably released into the surrounding environment.
The versatility of PVC relies on the use of numerous additives to transform the basic polymer into a range of functional materials. These additives often have a poor environmental and toxicological profile themselves. For example, the most commonly used plasticiser additives are the phthalates, a group of chemicals associated with a diversity of toxic properties (see below). Other chemicals may be added as stabilisers, colours, fillers, etc., including some compounds of lead designed to prevent PVC from degrading in sunlight. Some of these additives, especially the phthalate plasticisers, can leach from PVC during use.
When it enters the waste stream, PVC presents further problems as a result of both its chlorine content and its additives. For example, when PVC is burned for disposal (e.g. incineration, uncontrolled burning) or, in the case of electrical cables, to recover valuable copper wire, its high chlorine content can contribute to the formation of highly toxic and persistent chlorinated dioxins. In landfills, some of the chemical additives contained in PVC may leach out, adding to the overall contaminant burden of landfill leachate.
Is PVC necessary in electronics?
PVC is not necessary in electronics. Indeed, a number of companies have already phased it out of a wide range of their products and committed to a total phase-out.
PVC - Questions, myths, misunderstandings
The electronics industry is not the biggest user of PVC
True, PVC is commonly used for drain pipes and other building materials in relatively large quantities compared to use in electronics. And because of this, PVC presents substantial problems for recycling and disposal of construction wastes. Furthermore, just as is the case in electronics, there are many alternatives to PVC for use in building materials. Greenpeace is opposed to the use of PVC in all applications, not just electronics.
The use of flexible PVC in electrical and electronic goods presents some particular problems. Firstly, the hazardous phthalate plasticizers most commonly used can leach out during the lifetime of a product, adding to overall contaminant levels in the indoor environment. When they enter the waste stream, electronics have all too often ended up being sent to countries such as China for crude recycling. Here the plastic is often simply burnt in a way that exposes people directly to toxic chemicals including chlorinated dioxins.
While the amount of PVC used in individual electronics might be small the huge quantities produced each year and massive amounts dumped and often crudely recycled by burning greatly increased the environmental impact of PVC in electronics.
Phthalates
Phthalates are a group of chemicals possessing similar structures, many of which are widely used as plasticisers (softeners) in plastics, especially PVC. These chemicals are not chemically bound to the plastic, and so are able to migrate out of the material over time into the surrounding environment. Many phthalates are toxic to wildlife and humans, often through their metabolites (chemicals to which they breakdown in the body). Some widely used phthalates are known to be toxic to reproduction, capable of causing changes to both male and female reproductive systems in mammals.
Are Phthalates necessary in electronics?
Phthalates are not necessary in electronics. Their major use is in PVC plastic. So by switching from PVC to other materials, manufacturers should also be able to eliminate the use of phthalates.
Phthalates - Questions, myths, misunderstandings
Surely phthalates are only dangerous to me if I eat my gadget?
Even if not placed in the mouth, soft PVC products add to the complex background of chemical contamination to which we are all now exposed, especially in the enclosed environments of our homes, workplaces and vehicles. In order to tackle the wider problems of hazardous chemical exposure, it is therefore essential to reduce and, as far as possible, eliminate all sources. Stopping the use of PVC in electronics and other consumer goods is one simple step that all manufacturers can take immediately to reduce pollution.
Individual electronic items only contain small amounts of phthalates
There are, without doubt, items in most houses and other indoor environments that contain larger quantities of these chemicals than electronics alone. Nonetheless, as explained above, all sources need to be tackled in order to address the problems of complex chemical exposures. Phthalates, like many other pollutants, are capable of causing adverse effects through long-term (chronic) exposure to relatively low doses, such that constant exposure to even relatively small levels of the chemicals from numerous different sources nevertheless presents significant concerns. All sources of exposure, no matter how seemingly insignificant, contribute to the overall burden of contamination and should be avoid.
Kaynak: http://focusorganic.com/why-bfrs-and-pvc-should-be-phased-out-of-electronic-devices-part-2-pvc/
