Floor Trends & Installation continues its coverage of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement that vinyl chloride will be one of the next five chemicals selected for prioritization under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

We reached out to Ned Monroe, president and CEO of the Vinyl Institute, to gain more insight into what it means for resilient flooring manufacturers, specifiers and end users. 

The Vinyl Institute, founded in 1982, is a U.S. trade organization representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl, vinyl chloride monomer, and vinyl additives and modifiers. The Vinyl Institute serves as the voice for the PVC/vinyl industry, engaging industry stakeholders in shaping the future of the vinyl industry. The U.S. vinyl industry encompasses nearly 3,000 vinyl manufacturing facilities, more than 350,000 employees and an overall economic value of $54B.

Floor Trends & Installation: What does the EPA’s assessment of vinyl chloride under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) mean for the flooring industry?  

Ned Monroe: The EPA’s assessment of vinyl chloride (VC) under TSCA presents our industry with the opportunity to affirm that the production of VC and the use of PVC products are safe. The Vinyl Institute (VI) and our members are fully committed to collaborating with the EPA during this multi-year review process of VC.  

The EPA has a formal process of evaluating hundreds of substances, included in a 2012 list of chemicals.  Even before VC was announced as one of the next five of these chemicals selected for prioritization for a risk evaluation under TSCA in December of 2023, the VI pledged to work with EPA to ensure they had all the data necessary to complete a high-quality assessment of VC. Since then, the VI met with EPA officials in person on January 10^th and has had multiple virtual meetings with the Agency as part of a cadence of communication that will continue throughout this multi-year process. 

Folks in vinyl flooring and throughout the vinyl value chain should rest assured that the Vinyl Institute’s top priority is to collaborate with EPA throughout this entire process to ensure a scientifically driven result. As the Agency has noted, selection for prioritization is not a finding of unreasonable risk, but the start of a multi-year review process to assess potential risks. The value chain should recognize that manufacturers of VC currently comply with strict OSHA regulations which already ensure that operational conditions and risk management measures are adequate and effective to control risk for workers, for the environment, and for the users of PVC products. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What are the questions we should be asking? 

Monroe: Anyone in the vinyl value chain should be asking, “Do I have information that would aid EPA in their review of VC ?” The VI is eager to work with the value chain to organize that information to inform the evaluation process by the Agency. Manufacturers of vinyl flooring should be asking, “How can we continue to improve our sustainability and safety?” We all want clean air, clean water, clean and safe homes.  We work tirelessly to lower emissions as well as protect our workers, neighbors, and customers. As our industry continues to improve worker safety and environmental performance, the attacks from misguided activists will fall on deaf ears.  

Floor Trends & Installation: If the EPA determines environmental protections are needed, what does this mean for the resilient category of flooring?  

Monroe: Additional precautions may have to be implemented, similar to the labels associated with tire disposal or the recycling instructions on single-use plastics, but we are confident that our collaboration with EPA will prove that the production of vinyl chloride and the use of vinyl products including flooring is safe. This TSCA evaluation and risk assessment will take several years to be completed, with ongoing input from stakeholders, so manufacturers should continue to participate in association events, to follow this multi-year governmental process. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What does this mean for manufacturers of vinyl flooring? 

Monroe: Manufacturers of vinyl flooring will continue creating high-quality and durable products. Manufacturing in the vinyl industry as a whole has made tremendous progress in worker safety and sustainable practices in the past five decades, and the VI will ensure that the EPA has all the necessary data to observe these upward trends. When VC was identified as a hazardous material in the 1970s, the industry voluntarily redesigned its manufacturing processes to reduce workers’ exposure to VC and facility emissions. The flooring industry has seen similar voluntary changes when they removed phthalates from their products more than five years ago. This was a business decision - they were not forced to do it, nor was there any regulation that required them to take this action.  Vinyl flooring will remain the material of choice in retail, hospitality, and other sectors because of its durability, ease of use, and sustainability. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What questions should end-users be asking about vinyl flooring and health and wellness? 

Monroe: End-users of any product are right to inquire about the materials and manufacturing processes to assess potential health risks in all products they use. The end-users of vinyl flooring will find that they are selecting manufactured products that adhere to some of the most stringent safety and environmental regulations in the chemical industry.  

Floor Trends & Installation: What opportunities are manufacturers of sustainable options creating for specifiers and users?  

Monroe: The VI will continue to highlight sustainable practices in vinyl flooring and the industry at large. We will also continue to provide recycling grants for innovators and researchers through our VIABILITY program, which funds research to increase post-consumer PVC recycling. Currently, 1.1 billion pounds of PVC is recycled every year in the U.S. and Canada, and the VI will continue to work to increase that figure.  

Read the story Vinyl Institute Prepared to Work with EPA on Vinyl Chloride Risk Evaluation.