Thanks to Green Building Advisor editor Daniel Morrison we have two articles with contrasting opinions highlighted in the blogs over on the Green Building Advisor website: Pro/Con: Is Vinyl Green?

Yes, Vinyl Is Green
By Patrick Moore
Expensive green products will remain niche products with little chance to have a positive effect on the environment. Vinyl is affordable and versatile. Read more…

 

No, Vinyl Is Lethal
By Bill Walsh
The environmental, health, and social equity effects of vinyl over its life cycle make it the worst plastic for the environment and the antithesis of a green building material. Read more…

Personally I have an aesthetic bias against vinyl. Even when it looks good you touch it or tap it with the back of your hand and it sounds like it’s plastic and that has always bothered me. Getting beyond that bias I still find myself agreeing more with Bill Walsh and his Vinyl is Lethal arguments but I do find the Patrick Moores arguments worthwhile listening to and considering.