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Michigan Ranks Sixth in Nation
for PVC Landfilled

National Report on PVC, The Poison Plastic, Describes Looming Waste Crisis and Pervasive Hazards

Organizations Concerned About Health Impacts from Landfills in Michigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- December 7, 2004

The Ecology Center released a report today documenting the health and environmental hazards posed by PVC (the “poison plastic”) during manufacturing, product use and disposal. Michigan ranks sixth nationally in the amount of landfilled PVC waste-96,241 tons every year, according to estimates in the report. PVC is widely used in plastic pipes, building materials (such as vinyl siding), consumer products (such as toys or tablecloths) and disposable packaging.

PVC, Bad News Come in Threes: The Poison Plastic, Health Hazards, and the Looming Waste Crisis concludes that billions of pounds of PVC are being thrown away in the U.S.-but there is no 'away' as PVC waste poses perpetual hazards.

In addition to landfilled PVC waste, the report finds that Michigan ranks high in the amount of incinerated PVC waste, with 8,639 tons of PVC incinerated annually. The report also finds that Michigan is one of only two states in the nation that has essentially no statewide restrictions on backyard burning of PVC containing household waste.

“Burn PVC waste in backyard burn barrels or incinerators and it changes to cancer-causing dioxin,” said Tracey Easthope, MPH, the Ecology Center's Environmental Health Director. “Bury it in landfills and it can pollute groundwater. Recycle PVC products and they contaminate the recycling process. This is a 'worst-in-class toxic plastic.”

“Michigan gets a triple whammy with PVC waste. First, we don't have meaningful restrictions on backyard burning of plastic waste so toxic pollution results. Second, we still have medical and municipal incinerators that burn trash, including toxic PVC. Those incinerators then spew pollution like dioxin into the air we breath, and onto farm fields and water where it builds up in the food chain. And third, Michigan is a magnet for out of state waste where we bury other people's toxic plastic. All of this adds up to a toxic mess,” said Brad van Guilder, Organizing Director for the Ecology Center.

van Guilder further notes, “ The Detroit incinerator is one of the largest in the country located in the middle of a densely populated area burning about 700,000 tons of trash per year. Only 30 miles away is the Carleton Farms landfill, which buried over 2.4 million tons of trash in 2003 - the fifth largest landfill in the United States for trash received.” And that's not all. van Guilder continues, “Communities are increasingly concerned about the PVC-generated toxic emissions from incinerators and landfills all over Michigan, including a proposal to re-permit a medical waste incinerator in Hamtramck that is currently locked in a court battle with the Attorney General's office for past violations and a growing controversy over a municipal incinerator in Jackson County.”

The report estimates that 70 billion pounds of PVC plastic (polyvinyl chloride) are slated for disposal in the next decade. And, the problem is going to get worse. Disposal rates are expected to sharply increase as an estimated 125 billion pounds of PVC installed in the last 40 years in construction and other long lasting uses will need to be disposed of as it reaches the end of its useful life.

A growing number of corporations are phasing out PVC, such as Nike and Firestone. To prevent harm from PVC, the Ecology Center and many groups nationwide joined with the Center for Health, Environment & Justice to kick off a campaign to convince Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft to phase out PVC use. These corporate targets are large users of PVC packaging such as Microsoft's blister packs on computer software products and Johnson and Johnson's Kids Detangling Shampoo bottles.

In addition, major health care manufacturers have committed to getting out of PVC including Kaiser Permanente. Several Michigan hospitals have made strides in reducing PVC use, including St. Joe's in Ann Arbor.

“Some major medical device manufacturers are switching from using PVC to avoid direct patient exposure to phthalates, as well as the public and environmental health impacts of PVC throughout its life cycle,” said Ted Schettler MD, MPH of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “Companies realize that protecting public health and the environment is the right thing to do and makes good business sense.”

PVC is estimated to contribute from 38 to 67% of the total chlorine found in solid waste, from 90 to 98% of phthalates, from 1 to 28% of the lead, and 10% of the cadmium (Pg. 14 Report). Cadmium, lead, organotins and phthalates are commonly released from PVC waste in landfills (Pg. 37 Report).

Burning PVC plastic, which contains 57% chlorine when pure, forms dioxins, a highly toxic group of chemicals. PVC is the major contributor of chlorine to four combustion sources-municipal solid waste incinerators, backyard burn barrels, medical waste incinerators and secondary copper smelters-that account for a significant portion of dioxin air emissions; these four sources accounted for more than 80% of dioxin emissions to air based on a USEPA survey (Pg. 2 Report).

Government tests found residents of Mossville, Louisiana-the location of four vinyl production facilities-had dioxin levels in their blood at three times the average rate and were breathing air contaminated with vinyl chloride, a potent carcinogen, more than 120 times higher than the ambient air standard (Pg. 19 Report).

Be safe logoThe report was co-released by the Center for Environment, Health and Justice's BE SAFE precautionary campaign and the Environmental Health Strategy Center.

Visit www.besafenet.com/PVC04/pvcinfo.htm for more information.

For More Information Contact:
Brad van Guilder
(734) 761-3186 x114
The Ecology Center

[State PVC Disposal Estimates derived from “The State of Garbage in America:The 14th Annual Nationwide Survey of Solid Waste in the U.S.” (Kaufman, et al., 2004); and “Municipal Solid Waste in the U.S.,” (US EPA 2003). Methodology described in more detail on Pg. 72 of report.]

 

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