The four major U.S. home improvement and building materials retailers, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Lumber Liquidators, and Menards, announced that they will phase out toxic phthalates in PVC flooring by the end of this year (2015).
Phthalates are chemicals used to make PVC plastics soft and elastic. According to research reports, over 58% of PVC flooring products sold in the United States contain phthalates, and over 50% contain multiple plasticizers. Under normal use, phthalates in flooring can leach into the air and enter the human body through inhalation or contact. Numerous studies have confirmed that the presence of phthalates can threaten human health, triggering asthma and harming male reproductive organs, brain development, and the immune system. Furthermore, the U.S. federal government has banned the addition of phthalates to children's products since 2009.
Therefore, after a year of effort, Home Depot collaborated with environmental groups and actively communicated with its PVC flooring supply chain to reach a consensus and promote a comprehensive ban on phthalates in PVC flooring. Home Depot is not only the largest home furnishings and building materials retailer in the United States, but also one of the world's largest brands, with annual sales of flooring in the U.S. alone exceeding $6 billion. In light of this, other U.S. building materials retailers such as Lowe's, Lumber Liquidators, and Menards have also actively followed suit, jointly promoting de-phthalate policies in their supply chains.
Recently, Lumber Liquidators further strengthened its policy by prohibiting contaminated recycled PVC from entering the PVC flooring supply chain. The use of recycled PVC in the PVC flooring manufacturing industry is nothing new; manufacturers often use it to save costs rather than in line with international environmental trends. Much of the recycled PVC originates from recycled electrical wires and electronic products. In its efforts to promote a green supply chain, Lumber Liquidators sent these recycled plastics to a CPSC-certified laboratory for testing. The preliminary test report found that these recycled PVC plastics contained lead, cadmium, brominated flame retardants, and potentially polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), with lead levels exceeding 10,000 ppm and cadmium levels exceeding 20,000 ppm. Therefore, Lumber Liquidators' policy limits the lead content in flooring to no more than 100 ppm to prevent contaminated recycled plastics from entering the product manufacturing process, thus providing consumers with safer product choices.
It is recommended that small and medium-sized enterprises in the domestic building materials and home decoration industry begin to pay close attention to whether the raw materials used in the product manufacturing process contain the aforementioned harmful substances. Only by leading the industry in detoxification can we meet the requirements of the international green supply chain and have international market competitiveness.
Sources:GreenBiz (2015-12-11) (Compiled by PIDC)
