Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a widely-used plastic. In terms of revenue generated, it is one of the most valuable products of the chemical industry. Globally, over 50% of PVC manufactured is used in construction. As a building material PVC is cheap, and easy to assemble. In recent years, PVC has been replacing traditional building materials such as wood, concrete and clay in many areas. Despite appearing to be an ideal building material, PVC has high environmental and human health costs.
There are many uses for PVC including vinyl siding, gramophone records (hence called vinyl records) pipe/plumbing/conduit fixtures; and, in its soft form, for clothing, upholstery (car seats), etc.
In 1926, Waldo Semon of B.F. Goodrich developed a method to plasticize PVC by blending it with various additives. The result was a more flexible and more easily processed material that soon achieved widespread commercial use.
According to some, the plasticizers added to PVC may cause chronic conditions such as Raynaud's syndrome, scleroderma, angiosarcoma, and acroosteolysis.
The environmentalist group Greenpeace has advocated the global phase-out of PVC because dioxin is produced as a byproduct of vinyl chloride manufacture.
The symbol for polyvinyl chloride developed by the Society of the Plastics Industry so that items can be labled for easy recyling is ♵(3) and indicated in Unicode by ♵
.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a widely-used