Substituting phthalates

CW Briefing, April 2013 / Europe

Article based on interview by Philippa Jones, published 30 April 2013, Chemical Watch

Below is just a summary with some quotes from the article.

Full article readable in Chemical Watch.

Twelve years ago, one of the world’s biggest carpet manufacturers, Shaw Industries, decided to stop using PVC as a backing material for carpet tiles because it was concerned about dioxin emissions from PVC in landfill fires and plant accidents. The result was the EcoWorx tile, which is made with low density polyethylene backing rather than the traditional mix at the time of PVC, polyester and two phthalate plasticisers, DEHP and BBP. Within four years of its introduction, the company had converted 100% of its carpet tile production to use the new backing.

EcoWorx was “more environmentally responsible and economically competitive” and gave Shaw “a long-term competitive advantage,” says Paul Murray, vice president for sustainability. As consumers and regulators around the world continue to push for greater transparency in ingredient materials selection, “all manufacturers,” he says, “will need to be prepared to answer this challenge” and should examine whether their product lines contain potentially hazardous substances, such as some phthalates. “Proactively taking steps in this direction now may save valuable time, financial resources and investment later on.”

 “By showing how new substances can replace more hazardous ones, we can increase the speed of transforming the market.” Legislation will take too long, she says. Instead, innovation must be driven by focusing on the demand side.

There is still a long way to go, says Ms Stigh, before a finished product is ready to replace the PVC blood bag.