Life cycle environmental sustainability of pvc profiles

In order to survive in a healthy way, it is necessary to minimize the effects on natural resources and ecosystem during the realization of products and services. The rapidly developing plastics industry is one of the important factors for increasing the sustainability of the industry. PVC is one of the first plastics discovered, and is also one of the most extensively used today. Although used in many areas such as construction, transportation, electronics and healthcare, the environmental effects of PVC materials are not fully known today. The aim of this study is to assess the environmental sustainability of the PVC window profile using Life Cycle Assessment methodology. In our study, Life Cycle Assessment has been carried out following ISO 14040 and 14044 standardization and CCalC2 program has been used for the modelling. System boundaries for PVC production have been accepted as raw material extraction and processing, raw material transportation and PVC profile production. Functional unit for this study has been selected 1 kg PVC window profile including gasket. The environmental impact categories which are acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, human toxicity potential, ozone depletion potential, and photochemical ozone creation potential have been analysed for 1 kg PVC window profile. Some alternative improvement models have been created for the PVC profile production, which is a raw material and energy intensive system. Hereby, results and recommendations provided to PVC profile producers and decision makers to increase the sustainability of the plastics industry. Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment; Sustainability; Plastic; PVC; Environmental Impact