Contact: Judy Berk, Natural Resources Council of Maine, 207-622-3101 x 203 Senator Sharon Treat, 207-287-1515
"The burning of PVC plastic in trash is a major source of dioxin pollution," said Senator Sharon Treat of Gardner, the bill's sponsor. "Dioxin poses a serious health threat, especially to our children. That's why I've introduced legislation to reduce dioxin pollution from burning vinyl."
"My many years in the waste management business have taught me that materials like PVC plastic should not be burned," said Senator Tom Sawyer from Bangor, a cosponsor of L.D. 1543. "This bill builds on Maine's past success in educating consumers to remove items from our waste stream that don't belong."
The bill, L.D. 1543, An Act to Reduce the Release of Dioxin from Consumer Products into the Environment, would:
* Discourage the burning of PVC waste in favor of landfill disposal instead
* Educate consumers to reduce the burning of dioxin-forming vinyl
products
* Ensure that existing waste programs accept PVC waste for proper
landfill disposal
* Ensure that construction and demolition waste containing vinyl is
not burned
* Encourage state government to purchase alternatives to
dioxin-forming PVC products
* Study and recommend further actions to reduce dioxin releases from
consumer products
LD 1543 focuses on reducing PVC plastic in municipal solid waste. This follows last week's announcement that Maine hospitals have agreed to reduce PVC products in medical waste.
"We know that backyard trash burning accounts for the largest share of dioxin air emissions in Maine," said Mike Belliveau of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. "While waste burning is a reality, we can reduce dioxin pollution by going after the true source - the burning of PVC plastic. With this bill, we are launching a consumer education campaign to remove PVC plastic from the municipal waste stream."
"Dioxin poses serious health risks. We are particularly concerned about dioxin effects on children at current exposure levels," said Raina Rippel, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Maine Chapter. "Dioxin exposure increases the risk of cancer, birth defects, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and immune problems. Reducing dioxin is good public health policy."
"Our members live near trash incinerators and don't want dioxin emissions from PVC burning to get into their gardens, our local dairy products or the environment," said Jane Scease of the Maine People's Alliance, a statewide citizens group working to reduce toxics and improve health care. "Our members want to eliminate dioxin at the source by getting PVC plastic out of our waste."
According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, waste burning is responsible for 50% of the dioxin released to the air from within Maine. This includes 26% of dioxin air emissions from about 8,500 backyard burn barrels, 13% from 4 municipal solid waste incinerators and 11% from two small medical waste incinerators. Dioxin also ends up in the ash from municipal solid waste incinerators, which is used to cover trash at landfills. Fires are another dioxin source because of the widespread use of PVC plastic in buildings and cars.
PVC plastic in waste provides chlorine needed to produce dioxin pollution when burned. Dioxin forms when chlorine combines with organic matter at high temperature. Dioxin air emissions settle out on grasses eaten by farm animals, which build up dioxin in their fatty tissues. Dioxin then contaminates the food supply, especially meat and dairy products, and exposes people to dioxin in their diet. Dioxin exposure to pregnant women threatens the health of babies in the womb. Nursing babies are further exposed to dioxin in breast milk.
In the last year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and two federal agencies declared that dioxin is a known human carcinogen. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that the risk of cancer from dioxin was ten times greater than previously thought. EPA's review of dioxin science also raises concern about adverse effects on normal childhood development including nervous system growth, learning abilities, thyroid function and immune system health at current levels of exposure.
Concerns about dioxin pollution are driving broad efforts to reduce the use of PVC plastic. The Maine Hospital Association's recent agreement to reduce vinyl in medical products reflects a growing trend in the health care industry. Cities like Duluth, Minnesota and Toronto, Ontario have taken steps to reduce PVC in solid waste. Automakers and electronics manufacturers are reducing the PVC in their products. Last year, the Olympic Village in Sydney, Australia was constructed to minimize the use of PVC. In December 2000 an international treaty was completed in Johannesburg, South Africa to reduce and eliminate dioxin from all sources.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also known as vinyl, is a high volume plastic widely used in building materials, home furnishings, consumer products, plastic bottles and packaging. Common PVC products include vinyl siding, PVC plastic pipe, vinyl flooring, toys, checkbook covers, credit cards and bottles labeled on the bottom with the number 3 plastic symbol. Only a negligible amount of PVC can be recycled. Safer alternatives exist for virtually all uses of PVC plastic.
Hearing date set Monday March 26 1 p.m. Natural Resources Committee, State House Room 437
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Judy Berk, Natural Resources Council of Maine, 3 Wade Street, Augusta, Maine 04330, ph - 207-622-3101 X 203; fax - 207-622-4343; e - jberk@nrcm.org