Plastic housing project for La Ronge

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The Lac La Ronge First Nations, from northern Saskatchewan, and Ontario's Royal Plastics have entered into a deal that may eventually see vinyl housing become commonplace on western reserves. The houses, made of extruded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) filled with concrete, are approximately 15 per cent cheaper to build and 50 per cent cheaper to heat than a traditional wood-and-drywall house. They can also be put up in only three days by a small group or relatively unskilled workers.

"I think this is an ideal product for Native housing," said Don Liddell, Royal Plastics' sales manager for Canada. "The big advantages for Native housing are that it's durable, it can be built by only semi-unskilled workers, the homes go up very quickly and they are very energy efficient."

Lac La Ronge Chief Harry Cook confirmed that the band "is in on the deal," but declined comment on specifics. The band and Royal Plastics have constructed a show home in the First Nation, and are hoping to see construction of housing for people begin in 1996.

The housing is constructed from pre-fabricated interlocking PVC panels, which are erected with a thin inside wall and a thicker insulating outside wall. The vertical pieces, which snap together rather like a Lego set, are 10 cm deep and 2.4 m high. Concrete is poured into the top of the panels, and the whole thing solidifies into a concrete wall with vinyl surfaces. The panels have holes between them, allowing the concrete to bond into a solid wall, or allowing reinforcing rebar to be included in the construction.

"From the outside, it's vinyl siding," Liddell said. "From the inside, it's smooth PVC wall, and it has a tiled roof look.

While the product is less expensive than traditional housing, it has raised environmental concerns in some quarters. Even Canadian Business magazine, in a December cover story naming Royal Plastics' owner Vic De Zen Canada's entrepreneur of the year, allowed that environmental concerns will be Royal Plastics' one potentially serious market barrier."

"PVC is dangerous throughout its cycle," said Mary MacNutt, media coordinator for Greenpeace in Toronto. "In making it, in many of its uses and in disposal, it's a deadly dangerous product."

"PVC gives off dioxins at every stage except use," said Charlie Cray, a member of Greenpeace's U.S. toxics campaign based in Chicago. "And there may be some off-gassing in the enclosed space inside a house, but I don't know that for sure." What Greenpeace is sure of however, is that PVC products are dangerous.

"As PVC is the largest use of chlorine, the precursor to dioxin, it is also arguably the largest source of dioxin to the environment," wrote PVC expert Bonnie Rice in a Greenpeace paper Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic: Primary contributor to the global dioxin crisis.

"(Dioxins) have a whole range of effects," Cray explained, "from cancer to immune system repression to disruption of the endocrine system, the neurological system, behavioral changes, decreased fertility and endometriosis, and even diabetes.

"In a fire, there is extreme danger from PVC," Cray continued. "You get off-gassing of hydrogen chloride before you get flames. Hydrogen chloride forms hydrochloric acid in the lungs when it combines with the moisture there. You have the immediate hazard of hydrochloric acid and the residual issue of dioxins." According to Greenpeace, dioxins stay in the body for a long period, and their effects add up over time, and can even effect later generations.

The danger from fire is there, agreed Liddell, but he has suggested that the PVC houses won't add to it.

"The product is virtually inert after it's extruded," he said. "We have plastics everywhere in our lives. I don't know what we could do without them."

"Firefighters are very cognizant of the dangers of PVC," Cray said. "Chicago, and many other cities, have restrictions on construction with it, and some cities have moved to ban its use in construction, especially in Eurpe.

"Certainly firefighters are aware of PVC," confirmed Mario Arrotta, project coordinator from the Edmonton Emergency Response Department. "Any time you deal with any type of plastics (in a fire), you're concerned with emissions, but there's so much in a house that's already PVC and other synthetic material that the walls wouldn't add significantly to the danger." But Arrotta speculated on other potential dangers with the construction methods.

"PVC burns twice as hot as wood," he said. "Ventilating through a PVC roof would be more difficult, as would emergency access through a concrete wall. If you couldn't get in through a door or window, I don't know what you'd do."

"On the other hand," he continued," solid concrete walls would provide advantages, too, such as containment. Fires are dangerous things, no matter what is burning. Firefighters are trained to deal with these things every time they go out."

Liddell said that the Lac La Ronge-Royal Plastics joint venture will serve Saskatchewan. The PVC houses will be marketed to other western provinces later on, either through the La Ronge Band or by other joint efforts.

"We have to walk before we can run," Liddell said. "This is a market I've been so impressed with, but we have to get to know how it works."