WDMA Urges EPA to Uphold Rejection of Regulating Discarded PVC as Hazardous Waste
The Window & Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging them to finalize the tentative denial of a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) requesting that discarded polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl) be listed as a hazardous waste under both the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
The EPA initially denied CBD’s July 2014 petition request to regulate PVC under the TSCA, but never made a determination about whether it would regulate PVC under the RCRA. In August 2021, CBD sued the EPA over the lack of a response, Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that the EPA should regulate discarded PVC as hazardous waste under the RCRA and that the EPA unreasonably delayed acting on the 2014 petition. On Jan. 12, 2023, the EPA published a tentative decision in the Federal Register denying CBD’s request to regulate PVC under the RCRA.
WDMA’s response
The WDMA is urging the EPA to finalize that decision and avoid unnecessary new regulations on components used by window, door and skylight manufacturers.
In a recent letter to the EPA, the WDMA asserts that the petition is unwarranted:
"WDMA agrees with EPA that CBD failed to provide the necessary evidence that discarded PVC products should be regulated under RCRA. We support the comments filed by the Vinyl
Institute demonstrating that CBD has failed to show that discarded PVC products meet the
RCRA listing requirements for hazardous waste."
It also states that granting the petition would undermine current recycling and sustainability efforts:
"The legislative and regulatory framework for chemical control and waste management have
significantly evolved during the eight years since the petition was initially filed in 2014. The EPA is already undertaking comprehensive reviews of the hazardous chemicals discussed in the Petition under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act. Granting the petition would regulate as hazardous a material that has been demonstrated safe over decades would cause significant disruptions to our industry and the U.S. economy."
Behind the CBD petition
The CBD asserts that many products (including building materials) contain PVC, which it states can have a harmful effect on human health, the environment and wildlife. Specifically, CBD asserts that PVC contains vinyl chloride and states that the EPA has acknowledged that vinyl chloride is a human carcinogen. The CBD also asserts that PVC contains chemical additives, such as phthalate plasticizers, which it states have toxic and carcinogenic effects on human and wildlife. Accordingly, CBD believes that PVC should be listed a hazardous waste under RCRA.
The petition is not aimed merely at PVC waste that might be generated at the initial chemical manufacturing stage: it seeks to have the EPA declare that finished materials and products containing PVC are hazardous wastes when discarded. This could encompass, for example, discarded PVC pipe and even trimmings at a construction site. Such a classification might complicate the recycling of any plastics that contain PVC and create headwinds for those who manufacture materials or products containing PVC.
