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natural habitat cold spring home exterior

Metropolis Editors, Natural Habitat, sustainability, sustainable architecture

METROPOLIS Introduces Natural Habitat, a Sustainable Homes Video Series

The series debuts with a tour of a tranquil upstate New York retreat designed with Passive House principles.

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A modern hospitality space with PVC Alternative flooring

January 5, 2024

7 Healthier Alternatives to Conventional PVC Products

These manufacturers offer innovative PVC swaps, oldie-but-goodie alternatives, or solutions focused on using the thermoplastic responsibly. 

By: Lauren Volker

Over the past two decades, sustainability-focused architects, interior designers, researchers, and manufacturers have been locked in a slow-burning battle to phase out PVC in the building industry, primarily because of the vinyl chloride used to make it, but also because of the other toxic chemicals that are typically added to it.

While manufacturers are developing a host of substitutes in the form of other plastics and bio-based chemicals, PVC products themselves have undergone a bit of a transformation, incorporating recycled content and eliminating phthalates, heavy metals, and formaldehyde in an effort to be more easily recyclable. —Avinash Rajagopal, Editor in Chief

Here are seven products that represent progress on PVC and its alternatives.

ABOVE IMAGE:

MERGE FORWARD PVC-Free Resilient 

Milliken’s resilient flooring Merge Forward offers scuff and stain resistance, but the rigid core tile is free of PVC. The line’s three patterns—High Ground, Reset, and Rejuvenate—and 12 colorways were inspired by mangrove forests, and all the products in the collection are also certified Red List Free.
MILLIKEN 
milliken.com 

Click to Find Out How the A&D Industry is Dealing With PVC Today

A trendy space with a grey floor

LINOFLOOR XF2 Linoleum

Since 1898, Tarkett’s linoleum collection has been made with natural, rapidly renewable materials—linseed oil, pine rosin, wood and cork flour, and jute—and it was the first in the industry to become Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver. The company’s LinoFloor xf2 is available in five patterns and 106 colorways, including 16 colors made from all-natural dyes. 

TARKETT

tarkett.com 

Green pendant lamps with PVC Alternative cords

OCEAN COIL PVC-Free Power Cords

PVC is one of the most used materials for electric cables. But LightArt’s entire product line, including its recently expanded Ocean Coil Collection, features power cords that are free of the thermoplastic. Now available in a new shape, a new colorway (Marina, shown here), and more sizes, the upcycled Ocean Coil pendants are also made from 100 percent recycled polypropylene sourced from ocean-bound and nearshore waste. 

LIGHTART

lightart.com 

Outdoor deck with lounge furnituyre and planters

TIMBERTECH Recycled and Recyclable PVC Decking 

The largest vertically integrated recycler of PVC in the United States, Azek transforms hundreds of millions of pounds of landfill-bound waste into TimberTech products each year. Made from approximately 60 percent recycled material (the highest recycled content available in PVC decking today) and designed to be recyclable at end of life, TimberTech Advanced PVC decking comes in more than 20 finish options across nine collections. 

TIMBERTECH BY AZEK 

timbertech.com 

Soft floral wallcovering

RAMPART RESOLVE PVC-Free Wall Protection 

Wolf-Gordon’s RAMPART Resolve is a clean-chemistry wall-protection alternative, offering the same abrasion and impact resistance in heavy-traffic interiors as vinyl. The heavy-duty olefin composite can be digitally printed with a range of the manufacturer’s wallcovering patterns, including two new options—Gossamer (shown) and City Lace—by textile artist Raylene Marasco. 

WOLF-GORDON

wolfgordon.com 

black and white carpet tiles

ECOWORX PVC-Free Carpet Backing

For 20 years EcoWorx, Patcraft’s tile backing, has been PVC-free, and it’s the first of its kind to be C2C Certified. Reverse, shown here, features the healthy, high-performance backing system and comes in three styles—Renewal, Material, and Commitment—in two constructions with a neutral coordinating color palette. 

PATCRAFT 

patcraft.com 

neutral colored flooring tiles in blue, brown, and beige

NORAPLAN DARIVA Rubber

All Nora by Interface floor coverings are made of high-quality natural and industrial rubbers, which are free of PVC and other halogenated polymers and phthalate plasticizers. Shown, the new noraplan dariva line combines the high-performance benefits of rubber flooring with an earthy color palette with soft marbling, creating a biophilic, holistic design solution. 

NORA BY INTERFACE

nora.com 

Click here to discover more PVC Alternatives

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