The use of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) in electronic products has long been identified as a source of concern related to the risk it carries for human health and for the environment as a whole. Nevertheless, it is still widely used for its specific properties.
For more information about the impacts of PVC on electronic products see: http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/LEED_tsac/PVC/CMPBS%20Original%20Submittal.pdf
Where companies have an official position on PVC this is often quite easy to find. A google search like "CompanyX PVC" or "CompanyX Polyvinyl Chloride" will usually find this kind of document if it exists.
Searching within a company's CSR report for terms like "PVC" and "Polyvinyl Chloride" is another way to find out what the company's position is.
Based on our initial research we found that it is rare for a company to have eliminated PVC from all their products - companies that seem to be leading the way in this area have only managed to eliminate PVC from some of their products (and tend to list the products which are PVC-free).
So, we have opted for the following range of values for this metric:
All products - the company has stated that all of its products are PVC-free
Some products - the company has published a list or statement about certain products which are PVC-free, please try to include such a list as a source
Commitment - the company has made a commitment to phasing out PVC but has yet to achieve this for any products, in this case please try to make a comment on the metric value which describes the nature of their commitment (e.g. "PVC free by 2020")
No - the company does not have a policy or goal to eliminate PVC from its products.