The European Parliament’s Envi Committee met on March 19 to discuss the ECHA Investigation Report on PVC and PVC additives, first published in November 2023.
Peter Van der Zandt, Director Risk Management at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), presented the report to the commission. ECHA collected information on the potential risks of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its additives to human health and the environment, at the request of the European Commission. It focused on 63 PVC additives, including plasticisers, heat stabilisers, and flame retardants.
Van der Zandt reported that risks associated with PVC resign without any additives seem to be controlled. However, the agency considers there are still hazard concerns for some PVC additives, many of which still need to be clarified with further experimental data.
“For the purpose of the investigation, where the hazards were identified as potential, they have in the assessment been assumed as confirmed to identify potential risks,” Van der Zandt explained.
VinylPlus, the European PVC industry’s Commitment to Sustainable Development, has reacted to the Envi Committee discussion of the report. It appreciated the ‘transparent interventions from ECHA and the European Commission’ and added it will use this information to refine its current research activities related to the findings of the report.
The association underlined that the data gaps Van der Zandt referred to ‘must be filled, and worst-case assumptions verified as soon as possible to allow for informed decisions on the next steps’.
Van der Zandt also reported that alternative materials to PVC are generally available for all uses, despite often at a higher cost. He noted that there are performance issues for some uses and, overall, that the cost of substituting additives is much lower than replacing PVC as a material.
“As alternatives were not assessed to the same degree as PVC and its additives, VinylPlus believes that comparative life cycle assessment analyses will be needed to understand whether alternatives are truly preferable in certain applications, or if there is a risk of regrettable substitution,” the association said in a statement.
Representatives of the European Commission DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) stated that “the Commission has already worked and continues working on several areas that according to the investigation report would benefit from further regulatory action”, such as microplastics, some orthophthalates, flame retards, MCCPs, and that “the investigation report needs to be read in this context”.
VinylPlus said it “welcomes the fact that the European Commission sees the ECHA report in the broader context of ongoing initiatives and hopes that a coordinated approach involving relevant stakeholders will be pursued.”
The association also emphasised that in addition to the ongoing work outline by the European Commission, PVC products and PVC additives are already regulated in the EU under several regulatory frameworks.
ECHA’s report is also being discussed at the meeting of the Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP today, March 21.