Vinyl Makes
Life More Affordable
Used for more than 60 years, vinyl is the material of
choice for a wide range of products. Without vinyl, in
North America we would spend $20 billion more to find
alternative materials for its many uses — and they almost
certainly would not perform as well.
An incredibly versatile plastic, vinyl, also known as
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is produced from chlorine and
ethylene. With the addition of other additives, vinyl can
be flexible, rigid or anything in between; transparent or
colorful; thick or thin. This versatility enables vinyl to
be made into a variety of products — from pipe, siding,
flooring and wallcovering to blood bags, toys, packaging
and windows — and also ranks it as the third-largest
volume plastic produced in North America.
Vinyl makes life more affordable. It brings products
that might otherwise be too expensive into reach for
many Americans, and brings solutions that save money
and resources.
Putting Money in Your Pocket
is less expensive than many competitive
materials because it is one of the world’s most widely
produced, highest volume resins and because more
than half of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) molecule
(chlorine) is derived from sea water.
■■ Vinyl products have long, useful service lives and,
therefore, need to be replaced less often.
■■ Vinyl windows and flexible vinyl roofing
dramatically reduce heating and cooling costs.
Vinyl has low conductivity, which reduces heat
exchange. Reflective vinyl roofing membranes reflect
heat, reducing the heat island effect and reducing the
need for air conditioning.
■■ Flexible vinyl products help reduce health care
costs. For more than 50 years now, vinyl has been
prized for its combination of value and wide range
of properties specific to medical uses. During World
War II, vinyl components were first used in blood
transfusion and IV sets on the battlefield.
■■ Vinyl
Putting Economical
Solutions into Practice
pipes help prevent costly water leaks in
water distribution systems. (Leaky, mostly cast or
ductile iron, water pipes result in water losses of
2.2 trillion gallons per year in the US alone.)
■■ Flexible vinyl booms have been used to help
prevent costly damage from offshore oil spills.
■■ Flexible vinyl helps reduce the weight of
automobiles, promoting greater fuel efficiency.
“Lightweighting” innovations in plastics have
given auto manufacturers the opportunity to
reduce car weights without compromising safety.
■■ Flexible vinyl helps reduce food spoilage via
packaging specially designed to extend the shelflife of food, preserve its nutrient content, and
prevent food-borne illnesses. Food waste has
at least 10 times the environmental impact of
packaging waste.
■■ Flexible vinyl products provide temporary
housing following disasters. Such shelter is
less expensive than using traditional materials,
offers superior strength to weight ratio, improved
durability, recyclability, and can often be shipped
in modules and assembled with unskilled labor.
■■ Vinyl
FOR MORE
INFORMATION ON
THE DATA PRESENTED
HERE PLEASE CONTACT:
Barry Eisenberg at
beisenberg@plasticsindustry.org
Information and Statistics Courtesy of:
American Chemistry Council
■■ Abasco LLC
■■ American Chemistry Council
■■ Chemical Fabrics and Film Association/ The Vinyl Roofing Division
■■ European Commission
■■ European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates
■■ Examiner.com & Clarity Digital Group, LLC
■■ How Products Are Made/Madehow.com (Advameg, Inc.)
■■ LINPAC Packaging Filmco, Inc.
■■ National Center for Policy Analysis
■■ Teknor Apex
■■ SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association
■■ Vinyl Institute
■■ Whitfield Associates
■■
SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade
Association represents the third largest
manufacturing industry in the United
States. SPI’s member companies represent
the entire plastics industry supply chain,
including processors, machinery and
equipment manufacturers and raw materials
suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs
1 million workers, operates 17,348 facilities
located in every state, and provides nearly
$327 billion in annual shipments.
SPI’s Flexible Vinyl
Products Division promotes
the advancement of the flexible
vinyl industry and works for the
benefit of all companies within
the flexible vinyl industry,
regardless of end application.
Flexible (plasticized) vinyl
includes both plastisols (liquids)
and solids (pellets, cubes,
powders, etc.) materials.
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