I wonder what the environmental consequences of vinyl v paint are. The railway is meant to be considering that sort of thing. I have no view or idea on what the respective impacts might be on a whole life basis, but would be interested to know.
Depends on the paint composition, as well as the type of stickers used in the "vinyls".
The "vinyls" might not necessarily be polyvinylchloride (i.e. PVC), they might be another similar polymer (thermoplastic polyurethane, for instance), which is often eco-friendlier.
I don't think Joe Public would examine the polymeric composition of every sticker on every train with vast scrutiny, however.
A train-borne environmental consequence of vinyl vs paint is the corrosion issue; FGW reverted to paint after the Dynamic Lines vinyls on some of their 166s started peeling - this left a small bubble between the vinyl & thr bodywork, allowing moisture to form and corrosion to occur.
Topically enough, some of the vinyled 800s (the /0s) are looking much the worse for wear than the 800/3s, 802/0s and 802/1s, which were all painted.