In recent years, consumer products made out of PVC materials have been in the media for being environmentally unsafe and have been targeted by environmental groups. These environmental groups have called for a ban on the use of PVC by using media scare tactics and faulty science. Here at Presco, we realize that PVC and PVC Film is a safe, proven material to use and that the proposed replacement materials are untested. The industry has seen a variety of issues arise from materials slated to take PVC’s place.
In the medical industry, several newly developed materials have tried to replace PVC in drainage bags, medicine bags, and blood bags, however they have run into migration issues during testing. Several of the non-PVC replacements have to have the manufacturing process modified to include a barrier layer to prevent the median being contained from leeching out. This adds to manufacturing costs and possible field failures. They have also have had printing issues with the lack of adhesion of the ink causing the printing to be smudged and unreadable.
In other consumer products, PVC Films meet rigorous standards for outdoor use while the proposed replacements fail in outdoor weather testing. Any failures in accelerated weathering testing is a signal to a possible failure in the field.
PVC films provide consumers with cost effective, safe, proven products that have been shown to stand the test of time.