Iles Martin Rosen Undoing Chemical Industry Lock-ins- Polyvinyl Chloride and Green Chemistry .pdf (1.25 MB)
Undoing chemical industry lock-ins: polyvinyl chloride and green chemistry
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 18:13 authored by Alastair Iles, Abigail MartinAbigail Martin, Christine Meisner RosenWe examine polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as one example of the ethical challenges that the chemical industry faces when putting green chemistry into practice. Green chemistry has emerged as a powerful new philosophy for designing molecules, reactions, and products to be intrinsically non-toxic and sustainable. We consider three issues: Should the chemical industry overcome the inertia of path dependent technologies and introduce safer, more sustainable technologies? What will motivate companies and their employees to practice green chemistry under conditions where changing technologies and businesses can create substantial economic, market, and technical risks? How should the precautionary principle be applied in terms of the real-world complexities of manufacturing chemicals? To do so, we look at examples of environmental and health harms in the feedstock and PVC manufacturing lifecycle stages, along with green chemistry solutions that could be employed. PVC suggests how difficult it could be to adopt green chemistry solutions; nonetheless, these solutions may make significant contributions across the chemical industry generally.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of ChemistryISSN
1433-5158Publisher
HYLE PublicationsPublisher URL
Issue
1Volume
23Page range
29-60Department affiliated with
- SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-06-26First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-07-01First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-06-25Usage metrics
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