The Environmental Protection Agency gave a tentative thumbs down Jan. 11 to a petition from an environmental group asking it to regulate PVC waste as hazardous.
The EPA's decision is not final. It announced its tentative denial of the petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, and at the same time it asked for public input before it makes a final determination.
But EPA said that the environmental group did not make its case for tougher regulations of PVC waste, and it argued that it has "higher priority for limited available resources" of the staff effort needed to list something as hazardous.
"Agencies are generally given significant discretion in setting priorities and determining where the limited resources will be devoted," according to Barry Breen, EPA's acting assistant administrator in the Office of Land and Emergency Management, in a notice set to be published Jan. 12 in the Federal Register.
"The petition does not present evidence that discarded PVC presents a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when solid waste is improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of, or otherwise managed," Breen wrote. "Accordingly, at this time and considering the constraints discussed above, the EPA will not divert limited resources from priority actions for a rulemaking to list discarded PVC as a hazardous waste."
CBD, which originally brought the petition before EPA in 2014 and later sued the agency to speed up its decision making, called the preliminary denial short-sighted.
"Scientists have been telling us for decades that PVC is dangerous to our health, and it breaks down and contaminates our waterways, food system and everyday environment," Emily Jeffers, an attorney with Tucson, Ariz.-based CBD, said. "PVC is everywhere, and the EPA shouldn't bury its head in the sand in the face of such a widespread hazard. We hope the agency reverses course before it makes a final decision."
A PVC industry group welcomed the EPA decision and said it is in line with the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
"The Vinyl Institute agrees with the US EPA's decision to tentatively deny the Center for Biological Diversity's 2014 petition," said Ned Monroe, VI's president and CEO. "We appreciate the agency's thorough review of the science-based evidence and the RCRA criteria in their decision-making process. PVC continues to be a quality material of choice that is used widely in critical applications. It can be and is recycled across North America."
The petition has a long history. CBD sued the EPA in 2021 alleging unreasonable delays by the agency in responding to its 2014 petition and reached a settlement last year with EPA to move the petition forward.
The group said studies indicate finished PVC products leach toxic materials as they age, and it said PVC production is an environmental justice issue because of pollution in fenceline communities.
But the EPA said the CBD petition "does not provide sufficient evidence to suggest that listing discarded PVC as a hazardous waste would have a meaningful impact, if any, on reducing exposure to phthalates."
As well, the EPA said the last regulatory rulemaking that resulted in a hazardous waste listing, for paint in 2002, took the equivalent of two full-time staff working five years. It said an analysis of PVC would take similar resources.
EPA said the listing program in EPA currently has 1.5 full-time staff, and it said funding to advance regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act has been "flat or reduced for more than 20 years."
