Re: (FWD) PVC alternatives

[Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be (Ferdinand Engelbeen)]

Paul Gluszinsky forwarded the following message:

>PVC is a concern in the creation of dioxins.  "The Environmental Resource
>Guide" of the American Institute of Architects (John Wiley & Sons of New
>York< publisher) has an excellent report on the life cycle of vinyl flooring
>that would make you hair stand on end.
>
>Substitutes include for claddings -- tile, wood, masonry, stone, precast
>concrete,; for wall finishes -- gypsum or plaster and lath; for flooring use
>linoleum.  Pipes are an issue, and I have heard plumbing in Berlin using
>concrete, tile and steel pipes.  I am not sure what other materials.
>Janet Clark
>Technology Transfer Manager
>MA Toxics Use Reduction Institute
>University of Massachusetts
>One University Ave.
>Lowell, MA  01854-2881
>Tel 508-934-3346
>Fax 508-934-3050
>email clarkjan@turi.org
>
>Check out the NBEN interactive site at http://www.nben.org and...
>     P2Gems, a web search tool at http://www.uml.edu/turi/

We have not read the "The Environmental Resource Guide" of the American
Institute of Architects, but similar bookworks are spread here. They are
all based on one-sided stories from Greenpeace, not on comparisons of real
emissions of the different materials.

E.g. in the case of dioxins: tile, wood, masonry, concrete, steel all give
more dioxins during manufacturing than PVC in its whole lifetime.
For other contaminations, the manufacturing and use can be worse: linoleum
is made with cancerogenic cobalt to speedup the drying process and needs
twelve times more cleaning agents than PVC flooring.
See our previous message about the "benefits" of chlorine, for PVC and
alternatives in pipes...

Ferdinand Engelbeen
Chairman Chlorophiles

Ferdinand.Engelbeen@ping.be