Until the train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, unleashed a cloud of vinyl chloride in February, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic was largely ignored in packaging policy. The anti-plastic packaging movement is organized around the sorts of products found in the ocean: sachets, bags and bottles. The proportion of PVC in that mix is small.
But while no one was really looking, PVC was the fastest-growing thermoplastic used in packaging over the past ten years.
A typical use of PVC in packaging: those thick hard shells tightly bound around a product; sometimes you just about need a chainsaw to open them.
According to American Chemistry Council data for North America, the amount of PVC used in packaging grew by 23% between 2012 and 2021. By comparison, polystyrene (often known by the trade name, Styrofoam) fell by 7.5%, likely due to local bans. Despite this surge, PVC remains a niche packaging plastic. The ACC Resin Review reported 865 million pounds of PVC were used in packaging in 2021, compared to 19.3 billion pounds of polyethylene and 7 billion pounds of polypropylene.
PVC packaging however is approaching that of polystyrene, which fell from 1.5 billion pounds in 2012 to 1.4 billion pounds in 2021. If trends continue apace, PVC use in packaging will exceed polystyrene in fifteen years.