PEVA Vs. EVA Shower Curtain
December 22, 2009, written by Debra Lynn Dadd
Question from HEG
I went to Target looking for alternatives to vinyl shower curtains and I found both EVA and PEVA ones. What is the difference and is there one that is less toxic than the other?
Thank you
Debra's Answer
PEVA is a nontoxic vinyl (it doesn't have the chlorine molecule that makes PVC toxic). I used a PEVA shower curtain in a rented apartment for three months. It worked great and doesn't smell at all.
EVA is Ethylene vinyl acetate, a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate.
Both of these are plastics made from petrochemicals, but they have very low toxicity.
Either a PEVA or an EVA shower curtain would be better than a PVC shower curtain.
These are archives of Q&A asked by readers and answered by Debra Lynn Dadd (from 2005-2019) or Lisa Powers (from 2019-2020). Answers have been edited and updated as of December, 2020.