Majjie's Blog

It's Blog Action Day today ... when the world's bloggers are supposed to talk about climate change and saving the environment. So I thought it was time I said some more about kitchen design and the environment. I have already talked about the environmental impact of timber worktops and the same principles would obviously also apply to real timber doors in a kitchen.

I have to admit, though, that I'm in two minds about much of the environmental campaigning that goes on. And before you accuse me of being a complete dinosaur (ok - that wasn't perhaps the best analogy) ... let me assure you that I do care - a lot - about the environment, about habitat loss and the destruction of tropical forests ... and about developing more sustainable ways of living. I just also worry about how people jump onto the bandwaggon and how much ill-informed scaremongering there is.

A lot of the factors that determine how environmentally friendly your kitchen is, are nothing to do with which kitchen you buy and what materials are used. They are more fundamental issues, such as:

• how well insulated your house is
• how efficient your windows are at preventing heat from escaping and letting light in
• how much natural daylight you can use
• how much energy your lights and heating system use
• how big the room is (small is beautiful for energy conservation)
• how many rooms in your house you keep heated
• whether or not you re-use any of your "grey" water
• how close you are to the shops and how many car journeys you make to buy your provisions
• whether or not you grow any of your own food or buy it from small local suppliers (instead of buying in packaged food which has travelled lots of miles)

Once you've considered all those issues then - for your new kitchen -  there are further factors that nobody could argue with (I think!):

• choose the most energy efficient appliances that you can ... even if it means buying new ones. Appliances have made huge leaps and bounds in recent years, when it comes to using less energy. If you're going to use a tumble dryer - feel a bit guilty - and then get one of the new, more energy efficient ones (there's no point in saying you can get by without one - if it isn't true).
• re-cycle anything from your old kitchen that you can ... re-use it yourself, or sell it, or give it away ... but don't send it to landfill, if you can help it
• consider whether, in fact, your old kitchen furniture could last a bit longer, if you revamped it (assuming you have the time and energy to sand down, paint, stain or generally re-furbish it - or you know someone else who could do it for you)
• think hard about the design of your new kitchen. Could you use any antique, or re-cycled, or free standing pieces, rather than buying everything new. Free standing pieces are also much less likely to end up discarded when the kitchen is next replaced.
• have a look for second hand kitchen units that would suit you
• if you're buying new, then choose the most durable materials that you can afford for your new kitchen
• most kitchens available on the high street have carcasses made from melamine faced chipboard (MFC) ... but you can look for low emission, FSC certified board 
• if you're going to use real timber, look for FSC certification ... and read my blog on timber worktops (linked above)
• consider using a local cabinetmaker to construct your kitchen units and consult with him (or just possibly her) about the sources of the materials

Now we get down to the details ... and this is where I start to part company from some environmental campaigners. Huge numbers of low cost, kitchen unit doors (in the UK) are vinyl wrapped ... some of the best MFC carcasses are pvc edged ... and vinyl flooring is a good, cheap alternative to ceramic tiles.

According to Greenpeace, though, vinyl is "toxic plastic" and they talk about "toxic pvc windows", "toxic consoles" and ask whether you "would give hazardous chemicals to a baby".

I used to be a member of Greenpeace years ago. A lot of their campaigns are spot on. But I fell out with them when they decided that all genetic modification and all GM food was bad. As an ex-biochemist, I believe that GM products need to be well regulated ... but that certain aspects of the technology have huge potential for the future. I think their approach to PVC shows similar - baby out with the bathwater - tendencies.

Of course, it's very difficult to come up with unbiased opinion and to find undisputed facts. Greenpeace rely upon scaremongering and hysterical tactics for their fund rasing but ... on the other hand ... most of the positive information about pvc is produced by the vinyl-producing industries - who have an even bigger axe to grind.

Talking about PVC-u windows (the u stands for un-plasticised), Greenpeace state that "the long term behaviour of PVC in landfill is not known" but then go on to add that "lead, cadmium, organotins and other additives may leach out of PVC and contaminate underground water tables". They say that the "production and disposal of PVC ... release(s) some of todays' most damaging industrial pollutants"; that "PVC is the major contributor to chlorine in incinerators, which leads to the production of dioxin"; that PVC production "involves no less than six of the fifteen most hazardous chemicals listed by EU governments for elimination"; that PVC-u windows "cannot be repaired" and that high performance, double-glazed, softwood windows need minimal maintenance".  This minimal maintenance involves "a soap wash or very light sanding before a single coat of stain or paint" is applied. They then add, in a footnote, that you should avoid solvent based finishes and that plant based finishes and preservatives based on boron, soda, potash, beeswax or linseed oil are recommended.

Well ... where do I start. Soap washing or "very light sanding" the exterior of my bedroom window frames doesn't sound like low maintenance to me. I can just pay the window cleaner to wash my pvc frames. I know of people who have had the glazing units in their PVC-u windows replaced - retaining the frames ... and I'm willing to bet that most people, who have timber window frames, use good old solvent based paint to preserve them.

Further research indicates that the safety and efficiency of PVC production has improved enormously in the last ten years. Cadmium stabilisers are no longer used, lead is due to be phased out by 2015 and an increasing amount of PVC is being re-cycled. The UK Environment Agency's assessment of vinyl chloride (a volatile organic compound, or VOC ... and the toxic precursor of PVC) is that "no significant global impacts are considered likely" and the VOC content of PVC products is these days, less than 0.1 ppm.

Tests at an incineration plant showed that the inclusion of PVC in household waste made no difference to the dioxin emmission rates ... since many other materials produce dioxin when burnt ... and the circumstantial evidence is also quite good, in that dioxin emissions have reduced by 80%, over the past thirty years, whilst vinyl production has tripled.

The much quoted EU ban on vinyl toys and childcare items using phthalate plasticisers, has been criticised as political posturing ... since it followed an EU Scientific Risk Assessment that concluded there was no risk ... even with toys that can be put in the mouth.

Environmental studies have shown that vinyl uses less energy in production than an equivalent volume of steel or aluminium and that the manufacture of vinyl flooring emits less toxic chemicals than other types of flooring (even Linoleum - which is made from flax - a natural material). Only 43% of the starting material for PVC production comes from non-renewable petroleum products ... the rest is salt ... and vinyl is very long lasting, so is replaced less frequently than other materials. It is also more resistant to moisture than other products, so can be more hygienic and less allergenic ... and is increasingly able to be re-cycled.

When it comes to landfill, the PVC industry claims that PVC is inert and that plasticisers are "likely" to be degraded by bacteria. That's no more believable than Greenpeace's assertion that "lead, cadmium, organotins and other additives may leach out of PVC". They're both making unscientific assumptions ... so the jury's still out on that one.

My current conclusion is that there is no overwhelming environmental advantage or disadvantage to vinyl and I shall continue to specify it's use in kitchens ... whenever it's practicality and low cost make sense.

If you're looking for rational discussion and some real facts about the use of chemicals and their effects on us and the environment ... then check out the "Sense About Science" charity. And consider the question they quote from research scientist Derek Lohmann:

"If someone came into your house and offered you a cocktail of butanol, iso-amyl acohol, hexanol, phenyl ethanol, tannin, benzyl alcohol, caffeine, geraniol, quercetin, 3-galloyl epicatchin, 3-galloyl epigallocatchin and inorganic salts, would you take it?"

Greenpeace would be having a fit, at all those toxic chemical ingredients ... but the tannin is, of course, the giveaway ... it would be a cup of tea!