Life Cycle Assessment findings
Life Cycle Assessment findings - Vinyl Council Australia
| LCA findings are of global interest and the Vinyl Council ensures the data is passed on to Australian industry and stakeholders. Many noteworthy reviews of PVC LCAs have been released. In particular, the 2004 European Commission (EU) review Life cycle assessment of PVC and of principal competing materials http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/chemicals/sustdev/pvc-final_report_lca.pdf confirms that, in its major applications, PVC is as good an option as its competitors. |
| In 2000, the UK non-profit organisation The Natural Step (TNS) http://www.ecosteps.com.au/content.asp?id=31 completed an evaluation of the sustainability of PVC. The TNS methodology is a rigorous and science-based set of tools that defines sustainability so that consumers can engage with the requirements of sustainable development. The TNS report says |
| 'Many life cycle analyses (LCAs) have been carried out upon various applications of PVC; probably more than for any other material. Inevitably they are of differing credibility, although the overall weight of them suggests that PVC is no more environmentally unacceptable or unsustainable than alternative materials (including "natural" ones) in the short to medium term.' |
| Everard, Dr. Mark et al., 2000, 2020 Vision Series No. 2: PVC and Sustainability |
| The Australian Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association (PACIA) commissioned the CSIRO to conduct an independent review and report on whether or not PVC building products were any more harmful to the environment than alternative materials. After a thorough review of the scientific evidence the CSIRO concludes that |
| ‘The adverse environmental effects of using PVC in building products are very small, and no greater than those for other materials.’ |
| Smith, R., 1996, The environmental aspects of the use of PVC in building products |
| Updated editions of the CSIRO review were published in 1998 and 2001, the latest of which states |
| 'It can be concluded from the evidence sighted in this and preceding reports that the possible adverse human health and environmental effects of using PVC in building products is not greater than those of other materials.' |
| Coghlan, P., 2001, A discussion of some of the scientific issues concerning the use of PVC. An update of the CSIRO report "The environmental aspects of the use of PVC in building products, Second Edition, 1998" CSIRO Molecular Science, Clayton South, pp 3-43. |
