Is it possible to build a plastic-free home?

Back in 2021 and following two years of planning, Erica Cirino started building her dream home in rural Connecticut.

She wondered if she could construct a plastic-free house on a limited budget.

For her there was a professional as well as a personal interest - she was writing a book about solutions to plastic pollution.

She failed, she admits. Alternatives to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, such as copper pipes, were just too expensive.

But Cirino did succeed in building a low-plastic house.

For instance, the roof has metal rather than vinyl covering. The siding is made of wood and not PVC. The exterior is treated with pine tar and linseed oil instead of coatings containing PFAS (often called forever chemicals).

"Plastics have really become the default in home building," Cirino comments. So it took a lot of her own research to find specialised materials.

Even though she hired a builder with green credentials, she spotted him using a can of spray polyurethane foam – essentially a type of plastic – for insulation. She insisted on using hemp fibres, although that would take longer to install.

Cirino, now the communications manager for the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an environmental nonprofit, has more company now than when she began building her home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now there are resources like Informed, a guide to the healthiness of many common building materials.

The Informed website is a project of the US non-profit Habitable.

Teresa McGrath, Habitable's chief research officer, explains: "We started paying attention to plastic not because we inherently have a bias against plastic, but because [in] every product category that we looked at… the plastic materials ranked the worst consistently. They were using and releasing more hazardous chemicals consistently across the board."

One of the products Habitable rates highly for flooring is linoleum, a durable natural product that has been widely replaced with PVC.

The company Forbo has a low-carbon linoleum range called Marmoleum that uses the traditional ingredients like linseed oil, and sometimes adds ingredients like cocoa shells.

Cirino, now the communications manager for the Plastic Pollution Coalition, an environmental nonprofit, has more company now than when she began building her home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now there are resources like Informed, a guide to the healthiness of many common building materials.

The Informed website is a project of the US non-profit Habitable.

Teresa McGrath, Habitable's chief research officer, explains: "We started paying attention to plastic not because we inherently have a bias against plastic, but because [in] every product category that we looked at… the plastic materials ranked the worst consistently. They were using and releasing more hazardous chemicals consistently across the board."

One of the products Habitable rates highly for flooring is linoleum, a durable natural product that has been widely replaced with PVC.

The company Forbo has a low-carbon linoleum range called Marmoleum that uses the traditional ingredients like linseed oil, and sometimes adds ingredients like cocoa shells.

Of course, natural doesn't always mean healthy. Composite wood products can be bound with formaldehyde. Lead pipes are disastrous for health.

Avoiding plastic may feel like an extra burden during housing crises, including in post-disaster rebuilding.

"Rebuilding is a nightmare for most people," Cirino comments. "You're really often put between a rock and a hard place because the fastest, cheapest, easiest way is to just rebuild a plastic-heavy, very simple structure."

Will Beilharz has seen this himself. He's lived through two major fires, including the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Beilharz is a builder and real estate developer who was already planning a new company creating prefabricated houses before the LA fires hit.

But that disaster made his company, which focuses on fire-resistant and mould-resistant homes, even more relevant.

Now, "we're getting a lot of clients who are interested in healthier homes," Beilharz says.

Anjo Homes' materials include rock wool insulation. Their prefab design has managed to avoid plastics except, like Cirino's house, in plumbing.

After high-profile fires, there is more awareness of the hazards of burnt plastic emanating from homes.

This toxic smoke can include carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. After the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, a dozen residents had to be treated for cyanide poisoning.

Chemical risks have also prevented some people displaced by the LA fires from returning as soon as they would like.

Volatile organic compounds like benzene, stemming from burnt PVC pipes, have entered drinking water.

Overall, plastic is linked to climate and fire risks in various ways.

The need to better protect residents against highly-variable weather and to reduce energy costs can lead to more home insulation. Yet those insulating materials may be combustible, as in the Grenfell fire.

And the plastics increasingly used to build and furnish homes derive from fossil fuels.

The expense is a common concern, when building without plastic. For instance, linoleum flooring is costlier than sheet vinyl flooring.

But advocates of alternative materials argue that while upfront costs may be higher, they can be longer-lasting and better for residents' health, ultimately making them more cost-effective.

This is one reason that, according to McGrath, "the affordable housing sector is really leading the charge" on healthier materials.

She says that, compared to market-rate housing developers, affordable housing organisations are more likely to also be managing the developments themselves.

Rather than being able to walk away after construction, they have an incentive to ensure long-lasting materials.

For instance, McGrath says, Habitable's research has shown that plastic carpets are typically replaced 10 times over the life of the building.