From rail cars to The Home Depot

From rail cars to The Home Depot

The Home Depot and PVC

The number one use of PVC is in building materials^{50, i}, and The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. and world.⁵¹

At the end of the line, plastic resins from the OxyVinyls and Orbia North American PVC factories that receive vinyl chloride by rail are undoubtedly found in products such as luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring sold at major building retailers like The Home Depot.

OxyVinyls and Orbia’s PVC resins from Pedricktown are made into building materials by corporations like AHF, which sells Armstrong brand flooring through The Home Depot.^{52-54, j} As of late 2023, The Home Depot online catalog listed more than 50 styles of Armstrong vinyl flooring made in the U.S., under the brand names “Excelon Imperial”⁵⁵ and “Bruce.”⁵⁶

As the largest home improvement chain in the U.S. and world, The Home Depot has a responsibility to protect communities, consumers, workers, wildlife, and the environment from pollution resulting from the manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal of PVC by phasing it out of building materials and packaging and selling safer options. By tackling PVC, The Home Depot would make significant progress implementing its safer Chemical Strategy⁵⁷, realize its climate goals, and help mitigate growing business risks associated with selling hazardous chemicals and plastics in products and packaging.