People & Community is a critical Impact Category because it addresses how vinyl products and supply chains affect human health, social well-being, and equity, from workers and users to the communities where products are made and used. This category recognizes that long-term sustainability depends not only on environmental performance, but also on responsible labor practices, supply chain transparency, community engagement, and protecting user and community health. By elevating People & Community as a core Impact Category, VSC ensures that social responsibility and human-centered outcomes are integrated into decision-making, verification, and continuous improvement across the vinyl industry.

This impact category is focused on two priority areas:

— Community health and safety

— User health and safety

The People & Community Task Force is one of the Vinyl Sustainability Council’s (VSC) core collaborative forums, bringing together manufacturers, suppliers, downstream users, and stakeholders to advance human-centered sustainability priorities across the vinyl value chain.

The Task Force serves as a platform for cross-industry collaboration, enabling member companies to share experiences, align on best practices, and collectively respond to evolving stakeholder expectations. Participation includes resin producers, additive suppliers, product manufacturers, and end-use representatives from sectors such as building materials, healthcare, packaging, and infrastructure.

Meetings typically include expert presentations, facilitated discussions, and progress updates on shared initiatives. Guest speakers from academia, NGOs, and industry bring additional perspective on emerging social and human-health topics relevant to the vinyl industry.

Insights from the People & Community Task Force directly inform the +Vantage Vinyl® program, VSC’s sustainability framework for the vinyl industry. Task Force recommendations help shape program expectations, verification topics, and guidance materials related to social responsibility and community impacts.

The Task Force also plays a role in VSC’s materiality-driven continuous improvement process, helping to:

• —Identify and prioritize social and community-related ESG topics
• —Integrate priority issues into guiding principles and program updates
• —Support transparent measurement and communication of progress

Through open dialogue and shared learning, the Task Force supports practical, credible, and scalable solutions that benefit people and communities while strengthening the long-term sustainability of vinyl products.