Educational Media Reviews Online

Helfand sets herself the task of convincing her parents to replace the vinyl siding on their Long Island home if she can find a healthy, affordable alternative. She carries a piece of blue vinyl siding with her on her trips to Louisiana, Britain, Italy and California, as she explores the toxicity of vinyl chloride, the raw material used in the manufacture of vinyl (polyvinylchloride or PVC) which can be molded into a wide variety of industrial products including the vinyl siding on her parents’ house. Helfand finds that PVC is a hazardous material from the time it is manufactured from vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, to its disposal. PVC, inert and generally not recyclable into new products, produces dioxin, another known carcinogen, as it burns. At risk are the resin workers exposed to vinyl chloride, also plants and animals in the vicinity of the vinyl factories exposed to airborne and waterborne vinyl chloride pollutants, and possibly, fabricators molding PVC pellets into finished products like durable, affordable, blue vinyl siding.

This story is told with large doses of irony and wry humor. Though Helfand is able to ultimately convince her parents that their blue vinyl siding must go, the replacement siding chosen fails to meet one of the original qualifications for replacing the vinyl: the recycled wood barn siding is decidedly not affordable compared to the vinyl it replaces. Then, what to do with the vinyl siding since it can’t be reused as anything other than vinyl siding and it can’t be incinerated? The very creative solution shouldn’t be revealed here …

This excellent documentary is well-filmed and edited. Helfand and Gold have used some very interesting techniques to capture the story from interviews around the Helfand’s kitchen table, to site visits to trade shows, rides around plant environs in automobiles, tours of PVC plants, labs, courtrooms and building sites. The production also includes several innovative animated sequences that add to the film. Sound is excellent and choice of music is eclectic.

This film supports any number of inquiries into the role of science and industry in our global society. The general sequencing of product development from technological breakthrough to affordable application has typically ignored the dangers of chemical pollutants to workers and to the environment until people begin to die, at which time things are cleaned up in the factory to reduce the levels of worker exposure to hazardous materials. Meantime, the product has impacted the environment by perhaps irreversible means and, in the case of a successful product like vinyl siding, durable, affordable and safe substitute products are unavailable. What’s a consumer to do: avoid vinyl because it kills, or replace home siding with cheap, low-maintenance, durable vinyl just like all the neighbors?

Awards

• Winner, Excellence in Cinematography, Sundance Film Festival
• Winner, Best Documentary, Bermuda Film Festival
• Nominee, Best Documentary, and Nominee, Best Research, Emmy Awards

  Read another EMRO review of Blue Vinyl.