SEATTLE — A New York lawmaker's proposal for a "Pods are Plastic" law banning the sales of polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) coated detergent pods has sparked interest and questions among those unfamiliar with it.
Viewer "Nancy" reached out to KING 5 asking, "I've seen posts saying that the pods containing detergent and dishwasher soaps are plastic and that using them puts microplastics into the environment. I've tried looking for info to confirm or deny this to no avail. I hope you can help. Thanks."
KING 5 worked to get answers to her questions.
According to a USDA research chemical engineer, PVA is a water-soluble plastic, meaning it is dissolvable in water, allowing it to function in laundry and dish pods. He said other common plastics can also dissolve in some organic solvents, but PVA is unique in its ability to dissolve in water.
Asked if it can generally be referred to as a plastic, an EPA spokesperson said upon consulting three different departments of the agency, "it is a difficult question to answer because 'plastic' can refer to a wide range of substances and does not have a singular, EPA-wide definition."
In a statement, the spokesperson wrote that "the term 'plastic' can refer to synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient, which is true of [PVA]. On the other hand, plastic has been described as long-lasting and insoluble in water, which is not true of all PVA. It is also important to note that the term ‘PVA’ describes a range of chemicals with varying toxicity, biodegradability, and other features."
A specific formula of PVA is used in detergent pods. Western Washington University Associate Professor and Program Director John Misasi said when a laundry machine is emptied, the water carries the dissolved PVA to a wastewater treatment plant, where there are generally filters and micro-organisms that will begin to break it down.
"Those filters aren't perfect, they can allow some polymer and plastic to escape, so some can escape that way," Misasi said. "The PVA that escapes [does so] because it's so water soluble, so it's kind of being carried with water. The majority of that water is either recycled and reused or [what's referred to as] sludge gets distributed onto fields."
Misasi said PVA has been used as a coating for pharmaceuticals and the FDA considers them non-toxic, with the molecules essentially moving through the body.
The American Cleaning Institute, which represents producers of the pods, said they fully degrade after several hours in wastewater treatment plants.
"More than 50 years of published science including extensive reviews by regulatory agencies around the world have supported the environmental safety and human safety of polyvinyl alcohol film," said Brian Sansoni, senior vice president of communications for the ACI. "That's the water soluble film that's used in laundry pods and dishwasher tabs, and it has an extensive track record."
But a study by researchers Dr. Charles Rolsky and Dr. Varun Kelkar through Arizona State University argued that "while [PVA] can be fully biodegradable, specific conditions are needed for it to completely biodegrade [and] these conditions are often unmet," according a news release.
"We were aware this material was being used and being marketed as biodegradable and ecofriendly and in a lot of cases, plastic free," Rolsky said. "We started to look into the chemistry and ... we realized it was just a water soluble plastic and then you just kind of take a linear step to figure this out, alright, well is it used a lot? And then you look at the data and it suggests it is used quite a bit, and marketed inappropriately."
Rolsky said the researchers collected studies and put data through a mathematical model to argue most of the PVA isn't in wastewater treatment plants long enough to fully break down, and the majority makes its way into the environment, contrary to previous studies cited by cleaning companies and the Environmental Protection Agency.
"The consensus of their study was, under these consistent environmental conditions, it will break down efficiently," Rolsky said. "But consistent environmental conditions exist nowhere- I mean, night and day, weather, rain, it's just not gonna happen."
The American Cleaning Institute hit back against the study, posting a list of arguments in dispute.
"That flawed study that [research funded by Blueland] relied on, they looked on data at true microplastics, not the water soluble grade of polyvinyl alcohol, PVA, that's used in detergent products," ACI SVP Sansoni said.
Groups working to end plastic pollution alongside Blueland, a cleaning products company that does not use PVA, filed a petition with the EPA asking for more research and a temporary removal of its "Safer Choice" designation until more research is complete. The EPA denied the petition. Rolsky says he'd still like to see more research done, noting that researchers never claimed the material is toxic, but because it is in so many products, they want to know more about impacts of different types.
We know it's not toxic, we just want to know how it behaves as a pollutant," Rolsky said. "Because it's not like a little is being produced- we're talking about tens of thousands of metric tons of this stuff going to our wastewater treatment plants. So it's concerning to us."
For its part, the Environmental Protection Agency says "whether PVA structures fully degrade may vary by PVA structure and across different environments, but studies have shown PVA chemical structures used in laundry detergent packets are biodegradable and break down in the environment. "
According to a spokesperson, the EPA has only evaluated the PVA structures that already allowed for use in Safer Choice-certified detergent products.
"These PVA structures are highly water-soluble, have low potential to bioaccumulate, do not meet typical definitions of microplastics and do not degrade into microplastics," a spokesperson wrote. "EPA researchers currently use the State of California’s definition of microplastics which includes particles that are greater than 1 nm and less than 5,000 micrometers (µm)."
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