26 July, 2000 Brussels …

    26 July, 2000
    Brussels



                                       A Greenpeace brief on the report

                               The Behaviour of PVC in Landfill1
                                   published by the European Commission


            "No total releases of phthalates from a PVC product under soil-buried and
            landfilled conditions has been reported, however in the long-term a total loss of
            all phthalates introduced in the MSW [municipal solid waste stream] and
            landfills through PVC products and the contamination of environmental media
            (soil, water, groundwater) via leachate cannot be excluded".

Key findings:

      ·       Losses of phthalates from PVC materials are reported to be 30-35% of the total content
              under aerobic (oxygen present) conditions and 4-40% under methanogenic (methanogenic
              bacteria activity) conditions.
      ·       A total loss of all phthalates from PVC products and the contamination of environmental
              media via leachate cannot be excluded.
      ·       PVC materials are likely to contribute to gaseous emissions from landfills. Emissions were
              found to be carcinogenic in one out of four laboratory tests.
      ·       Emissions resulting from the presence of PVC in landfills are likely to last longer than the
              guarantee of the technical barrier of the landfill.
      ·       It is not possible to eliminate phthalates in leachates from landfills with current treatment
              methods.
      ·       Technical solutions to treat or contain leachates indefinitely might be possible but would be
              very costly.
      ·       It was not possible to quantify the releases of lead and cadmium, but they should not be
              neglected as a very slow process will also contribute to landfill emissions.
      ·       PVC products will certainly contribute to the formation of dioxins and furans in landfill
              fires.
      ·       Degradation of the PVC polymer chain itself was observed under landfill conditions.
      ·       A series of additional aspects need to be investigated (e.g. additives such as bisphenol-A
              and chlorinated paraffins)




1
    ARGUS in association with University Rostock-Prof. Spillmann, Carl Bro a/s and Sigma Plan S.A.
The PVC industry has always maintained that PVC is completely stable and has no negative effects on
landfills and they have commissioned their own studies to support this. In this report commissioned by
the European Commission there is no support for their view. The report shows that there is no doubt
that PVC contributes significantly to making landfills more dangerous to the environment, with
problems ranging from the long-term leaching of additives to the degradation of the polymer itself.

Losses of additives
Due to restrictions in scope and time, the study only makes a more in-depth analysis of one group of
the many hazardous additives used in PVC. A review of the behaviour of phthalates from PVC in
landfills reveals that these pose a problem for the environment for a long time to come, at least longer
than the guarantee of the technical barrier of the landfill.

Phthalates leach extensively from plastic. The loss of phthalates from PVC materials are reported to be
30-35% of the total content under aerobic (oxygen present) conditions and 4-40% under methanogenic
(methanogenic bacteria activity) conditions. A total loss of all phthalates from PVC products and the
contamination of environmental media via leachate cannot be excluded.

At present, there is no treatment method to eliminate phthalates in leachates from landfills. The
authors argue that it might be able to develop such methods, but that they would be very costly.

Another worrying finding was that air emissions from degrading PVC plastic revealed a carcinogenic
activity in one out of four tests, which could be caused by the presence by one of the main phthalates
used to soften PVC (DEHP).

It was not possible to quantify the releases of lead and cadmium, but they should not be neglected, as a
very slow process will also contribute to landfill emissions.

Dioxin formation from landfill
PVC contributes to the creation of persistent chlorinated compounds in landfills and even though it
was outside the scope of the report, the authors nevertheless included the formation of dioxins and
furans from landfill fires in the literature study. From this they concluded that: "During the fires, the
concentrations of PCDD/PCDF [dioxins/furans] in the air of the landfills were high" and that
"Laboratory tests with different types of PVC products report formation of PCDD/PCDF in the level
of microgram per kilo", and finally that "PVC products disposed of in landfills will certainly
contribute to the formation of PCDD/PCDF, but the quantitative contribution cannot be estimated".

From available statistics from Finland and Sweden it can be concluded that landfill fires are a common
occurrence (around 50-60 annual fires per 100 landfills).

PVC degradation
The environmental poisons that have created most havoc in the environment are persistent chlorinated
compounds (e.g. PCBs, CFCs, dioxins etc.). This is the reason that international treaties and national
legislation target these types of compounds for phase out. PVC is in reality a persistent chlorinated
compound, but the PVC industry's position is that the length of the polymer chains makes these
compounds harmless because they cannot enter biological organisms. The PVC industry also holds
the notion that PVC is a material that will never break down. However, this report indicates that there
are conditions in landfills and probably also elsewhere in nature that can break up the polymer chain
and thereby create chlorinated compounds that are more readily absorbable for biological organisms.

This could be a parallel to CFCs which were also considered harmless and non-degradable until it was
found that the CFCs were degraded in the stratosphere where the chlorine atom was let loose to
destroy the ozone layer.




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Restrictions
The study highlights some of the important problems with PVC in landfills, but the authors admit
freely that because of lack of data and restrictions on the scope of the study, they were not able to
analyse all the potential problems. The PVC industry claims that the behaviour of PVC in landfills has
been thoroughly studied, but the authors state: "Because of the very limited number of reports
concerning the behaviour of PVC in landfills, the literature study was extended".

The authors also had problems to obtain all the necessary facts: "Due to the information policy of the
part of the PVC producers, it was not possible to analyse in detail but a broad spectrum of additives
contained in PVC-samples was discovered."

The authors finish the report with a series of aspects that should be further investigated: Further
investigations are needed into the degradation of the PVC polymer in landfills, the influence of
different stabilisers and plasticisers on the attack of PVC in landfill, the identification of the
carcinogenic effects of the gaseous emissions, the quantitative load of PVC additives in landfilled
municipal solid waste, accumulated quantities of PVC and PVC additives in landfills and
identification of all additives used in PVC products, including those not previously investigated, and
their behaviour in landfills (e.g. bisphenol-A, chlorinated paraffins, organotins).




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                                                                                         26 July, 2000