"These materials are used extensively in many industries and are some of the most widely used plastics. These plastics are used in construction and building materials, flooring, product packaging, imitation leather, credit cards, wallpaper, window treatments, plastic wrap, toys, bottles, medical disposals, and more. Though they are inexpensive to produce, such materials have significant drawbacks. First, the production of materials like PVC releases dioxin, one of the most toxic sustances and a known carcinogen. Dioxin is also highly persistant in the environment. Other harmful additives can escape the product during use. Second, these materials are difficult and expensive to recycle, and therefore end up in landfills and waste incinerators where toxics can leach into the soil and groundwater supplies and also be dispersed into the atmosphere. Governments and industry are taking action to phase out and ban use of PVC. Products that use an environmentally friendly alternative are highly preferable."