Eliminating Poison Plastic | Blue Vinyl |

PVC plastic is everywhere. It is found in a huge number of products and their packaging. The problem with the “omni-presence” of PVC is that it poses serious toxic risks to human health and the global environment.

The manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxin, a persistent organic pollutant – in fact, it’s the most toxic man-made chemical known to science. Released into air or water, dioxin enters the food chain, where it accumulates in the fatty tissues of animals, including humans. The U.S. EPA estimates a 1 in 1000 chance of contracting cancer from dioxin exposure simply through eating a typical American diet. The most potent delivery of dioxin occurs through breast milk passing from mother to child. 

Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human carcinogen. Some studies have found higher rates of testicular cancers and a rare form of liver cancer among workers in PVC plants. Vinyl chloride and lead, the nerve-damaging metal often added to PVC, have contaminated water, soil and air around these facilities, which are often located in poor communities. Because it contains a variety of additives and lacks a uniform composition, PVC is far less recyclable than other plastics. Its quality degrades after only two or three "cycles." Recycling operations are burdened by having to carefully sort out PVC because it melts into corrosive gases at low temperatures contaminating other plastics, ruining equipment and causing health concerns. 

Working Films kicked off the My House is Your House consumer education and advocacy campaign with over 150 house parties hosted by environmental activists tied to the Blue Vinyl HBO premiere in May 2002. We also developed materials that allowed HBO viewers (estimated at more than 10 million between 2002 and 2004) to immediately engage in a consumer education campaign to stop the use of PVC. In addition to television audiences, Working Films engaged building and design professionals, affordable housing providers, groups of faith, and college and university students in PVC-free efforts tied to the film.

The objective of the My House is Your House consumer education and community organizing campaign with Blue Vinyl was to support the growing grassroots movement to eliminate the production and use of PVC so that it is no longer of source of human and environmental harm. Developed in partnership with organizations at the forefront of efforts for a more healthy and just environment, our three strategic constituencies and goals for the My House is Your House campaign included:

• Encouraging professionals within the design and building industry, including American Institute of Architecture members and Habitat for Humanity, to be PVC-free;

• Motivating college campuses to prioritize sustainable building materials and practices in renovation and building projects.

• Inspiring faith-based institutions in the midst of capital campaigns and major building and renovation projects to link their philosophical and spiritual commitment to the preservation of environmental health and justice.

Through the My House is Your House campaign, Working Films strengthened efforts to reduce the production of PVC and the release of toxic substances that occur as a result of its manufacture and disposal.

A summit meeting hosted by Working Films with the participation of NGOs, environmental activists and advocates identified key issues and target audiences, as well as a timeline of opportunities, starting with the premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Five strategic constituencies identified for the My House is Your House campaign included: Sundance and HBO broadcast viewers, professionals in the design and building industry, colleges and universities, affordable housing providers and household consumers. For each, a plan was devised to leverage the film’s impact from its premiere at Sundance to its HBO Broadcast and beyond.

From the start, the campaign has achieved clear results and measurable successes. At the Sundance premiere, viewers signed and sent over 1500 postcards to Intimate Brands (the parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works) “Greetings from Sundance”, asking them to be PVC-free in their packaging, in conjunction with 6000 emails from Greenpeace. Within a month, Intimate Brands committed to a complete phase out of PVC packaging. They met that goal.

Working Films organized screenings at chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which awarded Continuing Education Credits (required in most states to maintain licensure) for viewing and discussing the film. Screenings were hosted by AIA member firms and chapters in over 25 states, and as a result, many architects and designers committed to green building by signing a “PVC-free” pledge. Through AIA showings, building professionals have learned more about the dangers associated with PVC and have been inspired to commit to using “green” alternatives.  

Blue Vinyl has screened at over 300 colleges and universities, over thirty of which have led to campus policies in support of sustainable building. For example, Cornell University committed to reducing negative environmental impacts of construction on campus through its “Green Building Initiative.”, Tulane now has an institutional commitment to purchase green building materials. Similar examples of impact of Blue Vinyl screenings can be seen at Bates College, Bowdoin College, University of Southern Maine, Case Western Reserve University, Oberlin College, SUNY Buffalo, and University of Utah among others.

In 2004, capitalizing on the widespread success of Blue Vinyl and the surge of anti-vinyl discussion within the building industry, Greenpeace and the Healthy Building Network spearheaded the design and construction of the first affordable, environmentally sustainable PVC-free Habitat for Humanity House. Blue Vinyl was used as a key component in garnering stakeholder support for the build. Located in a historic New Orleans neighborhood not far from many PVC plants, the house proved to affordable housing providers and the public that you could build an affordable home and still meet an affordable pricing baseline of $60,000.

The My House is Your House Blue Vinyl campaign also targeted large companies and institutions with impressive results. For example, after screening the film for 1000 construction and procurement employees at Kaiser Permanente (the largest non-profit healthcare organization with over 30 hospitals and 400 medical centers), Kaiser committed to eliminating PVC in their building and renovation projects, including carpet backing, corner and wall guards. They also changed their building standards to also include a switch to PVC-free resilient flooring. Kaiser then asked their primary carpet manufacturer to create PVC-free “healthcare” grade flooring which led to the factory introducing new PVC-free commercial products – a key market shift.

From its outset, the My House is Your House campaign, with thousands of screenings of Blue Vinyl, was geared towards helping consumers understand that there is no such thing as cheap when the many long-term problems associated with a product throughout its lifecycle are considered. The film has been leveraged to create demand for alternative materials that in turn lower costs. The availability of Blue Vinyl to health and environmental justice organizers and green building proponents provides an invaluable tool that allows them to translate scientific data with pop-cultural appeal. Through ongoing and intentional coalitions and sustained relationships with leading environmental organizations, primarily the Center for Health Environment and Justice (CHEJ), we have made the elimination of vinyl products and the demand for the production of healthy affordable alternatives an environmental and public health priority.