Polyvinyl chloride also known as PVC is the third most globally used synthetic plastic polymer. It is a solid plastic material made from vinyl chloride. It is made softer and more flexible by the addition of phthalates, and can contain traces of chemicals like bisphenol A. 

In the last few years, PVC has emerged as a major building material in global scale. Global vinyl production now totals over 30 million tons per year, the majority of which is directed to building applications, furnishings, and electronics.

The manufacture, use, and disposal of PVC poses substantial and unique threats not only on environment but also lead to health hazards.  Scores of communities, financial companies have PVC avoidance policies, and dozens of green buildings are built with very little PVC. Various firms on industries have adopted measures to reduce consumption of PVC and started using alternative materials in a variety of product sectors, including building materials.

Polyvinyl affects environment in various ways. They are listed as follows:

1.  1. PVC production is the largest use of chlorine gas in the world. It consumes about 40 percent of total chlorine production, or approximately 16 million tons of chlorine per year worldwide. PVC is the largest production-volume organochlorine, a large class of chemicals that have come under scientific and regulatory scrutiny in the last decade because of their global distribution and the unusually severe hazards they tend to pose. PVC (vinyl) is the only major building material that is an organochlorine; alternative materials, including most other plastics, do not contain chlorine and do not pose the hazards unlike it.

2.  2. Many more by-products of PVC are created and released to the environment during the incineration of hazardous wastes, mostly in the waste stream.  The recycling of vinyl-containing metal products by combustion, and the accidental burning of PVC in fires in buildings, warehouses, or landfills are some common forms of pollution through combustion of PVC.

5.  5. Most bioaccumulative substances, including many formed during the PVC lifecycle, magnify as they move up the food chain, reaching concentrations in species high on the food chain that are millions of times greater than their levels in the ambient environment. These substances also cross the placenta easily and concentrate in breast milk.

.6  6. Dioxins are global pollutants. Dioxins have started to be seen in the tissues of whales in the deep oceans, polar bears in the high Arctic, and virtually every human being on earth. Human infants receive particularly high doses (orders of magnitude greater than those of the average adult), because dioxins cross the placenta easily and concentrate in breast milk.

7.  7. Vinyl wall covering encourages toxic mold growth. Because vinyl wall coverings form a barrier impermeable to moisture, they encourage the growth of molds on wall surfaces beneath the vinyl, particularly in buildings where air conditioning or heating systems produce significant temperature and humidity. Some molds growing beneath vinyl produce toxic substances which are released into indoor air and are suspected create severe human health problems. Vinyl has been considered as the interior building material most likely to facilitate the growth of these molds.

References

https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/chemicals-and-contaminants/polyvinyl-chloride-pvc