PEVA, an Acronym Worth Defining!
Silly acronyms, they’re always making things more confusing. But they’re also making some of our products healthier and more sustainable!
Enter PEVA, another acronym worth defining. PEVA, or polyethylene vinyl acetate (sometimes just known as EVA), has stepped in as a healthier alternative for PVC, or polyvinyl chloride—commonly just known as “vinyl.”
While PEVA and PVC have some similarities in their names, there’s one main difference: chloride.
Until very recently, PVC has been one of the most common types of plastics. It’s made its way into everything—toys, hospital supplies, car parts, and home furnishings. That is, until we realized that the chloride (chlorine) in PVC leads to some issues that last much longer than any household item.
Chlorine could be considered the main ingredient in some of earth’s most notorious cases of toxic pollution—it was found in dangerous pesticides and herbicides like DDT and Agent Orange, it’s responsible for the CFCs that destroyed our ozone layer, and it’s responsible for the unintentional creation of dioxins.
Dioxins are highly toxic and are released when PVC is produced, used, and disposed of. They’re persistent organic pollutants (POPs), meaning that they unfortunately last a long time in our environment. They’re also known carcinogens.
So, the difference between PVC and PEVA may seem small (it’s just a tiny “C,” after all), but when you think of the impact of that pesky chlorine, it’s clear that this small switch makes a huge difference.
With PEVA, you get all of the benefits of a plastic-based product, without all of the toxins. You get mold and mildew resistance, and a material that is durable and waterproof.
It means you can eat your sandwich from your Ziptuck sandwich bags without worrying about dioxins or toxic environmental pollution. We’ll throw in another acronym to explain:
Eating a PB&J from a sandwich bag made from PEVA instead of PVC bag means that you’re having a lunch free of chlorine, dioxins, and phthalates (another chemical that is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”).
Speaking of lunch, we know you deserve a lunch break after all those acronyms. So, eat up—just choose food-grade PEVA to keep your food fresh and healthy.