Looking Past Single-impact Certifications

If you were asked which you prefer, clean air or clean water, which would you choose?  Most would say: "I want both" or, "Why do I have to choose?" The answer is that you should not have to choose, but that is what can happen when you make product purchasing decisions, specifi­cally green product purchasing decisions, based on single-impact third-party certifications.

Well-intentioned decisions are made regularly by manufacturers who work hard to deliver innova­tive products to the marketplace – products their customers ask for – and products they believe will meet a new need and expand their market share. Having products meet third-party certifications provides customers with written assurance that a product, process or service conforms to specified requirements. But what promises do these certifica­tions really make? Everyone has heard of and trusts the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), which ensures product safety. This is a good example of a single certification program. UL delivers valuable product safety information to consumers, but it is not look­ing beyond the attribute of safety, regarding the life cycle of the product.

The sustainability movement has expanded the building design, construction, and operations and maintenance product markets. A flood of products with “green” attributes has poured into almost every build­ing construction and maintenance product segment.  Less than two years ago, when I spoke to audiences interested in sustainability and how the triple bottom line – profit, planet and people – made good busi­ness sense, event attendees and sponsors were very concerned about presentations being too commercial. Eighteen months later, I hear, “OK, I get sustainability. I understand how I can impact my company’s or clients’ economic, environmental and social bottom lines in how my building is constructed and operated. Now just tell me what products to buy.”

Indoor Environmental Quality

There are a few different certifications that look at how a product impacts indoor environmental quality. The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute sponsors three different certifications that aim to improve public health and quality of life through improving indoor air: GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified, GREENGUARD for Children and Schools, and GREEN­GUARD for Building Construction that improves in­door air. GREENGUARD Certified products are tested for their chemical emissions performance.

Green Label is another certification concerned with indoor air quality. The Carpet and Rug Institute developed the Green Label program in 1992 to test carpet, cushions and adhesives to identify those with very low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in order to create a better indoor environment. More recently, Green Label Plus has been launched, which sets even higher standards for indoor air quality (IAQ).

FloorScore, developed by the Resilient Floor Covering Institute with Scientific Certification Systems, certifies hard-surface flooring and flooring adhesive products that have low VOC emissions. Products certified do not exceed half the allowable concentration limits, according to the CA Section 01350 Specification.

Materials and Resources Certifications

Certifications also exist for certain materials such as wood and plastic. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests, by setting standards that guide forest management toward sustainable outcomes. Products with an FSC logo guarantee wood is from a certified, well-managed forest.
 
The Environmentally Preferred Rating applies to plastic packaging suppliers working to reduce environmental damage. Companies with this certi­fication adhere to environmental standards in their facilities and are committed to eliminating industrial pollution. The standard does not just look at one at­tribute of a product, but takes into account recycled content, air emissions, heavy metal-free additives, pellet containment and the company’s involvement with community service and education.

Green Product Attributes

When a company decides to become sustainable or more sustainable, it usually develops an environ­mental profile around the simplest terms: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The order of these three Rs is important. A company must first choose to improve its environmental performance by:

It is common to hear companies promote the re­cycled content of their products and often the first thing pursued is a sustainable initiative. It is a great start, but not the be all and end all and, in many cases, has nothing to do with the product being environmentally friendly.

Starbucks was a leader in 2005, when it introduced a coffee cup with 10 percent recycled material. Star­bucks showed leadership when FDA approval was needed because the cup delivered a food product (coffee). But did anyone ask the question: What process was needed to make this cup? Did all the benefits of this recycled cup get erased because of the manufacturing process of the cup and how it was distributed?

The product life cycle, which includes the raw mate­rials from which the product is made and its disposal at the end of its life, can impact the environment in a number of ways. These include global warming, acidification, eutrophication, habitat alteration, natural resource depletion, solid waste generation, ecological toxicity, human toxicity, ozone depletion, smog formation, indoor air quality and embodied energy content. The challenge of gathering and understanding this data can be overwhelming, so third-party certifications have developed that can provide valuable information, but often for just one of these 12 elements.

Third-Party Certification

From Green Seal and GREENGUARD to ENERGY STAR® and WaterSense, there are many labels on products today that indicate a product has a certain green attribute, whether it is energy efficient, conserves water, uses recycled materials or doesn’t harm indoor air quality. These certifications, conducted by an independent, neutral party with no interest in the manufacturer being certified, verify products meet a certain set of standards. Facility managers concerned with making operations in their facilities more sustainable look to these certifications when making purchasing decisions. Some certifications are single-attribute certifications, which only look at one particular environmental impact of a product and not the overall footprint of the product.

Energy

Started in 1992, ENERGY STAR®, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, is a certification for more than products used in both commercial buildings and homes that save money and protect the environment through energy efficiency. To be certified ENERGY STAR®, products must meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Green Building Council also uses the ENERGY STAR® rating system within its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Existing Building: Operations and Maintenance building certification program. Projects can receive up to 15 points toward certification for meeting ENERGY STAR® standards for energy efficiency, based on national benchmarks. The ENERGY STAR® program also certifies products within 50 categories. HVAC units, lighting, flat-screen TVs, refrigerators, roofing materials, windows, fax machines and copiers can all be purchased with the ENERGY STAR® label.

Water

The EPA also sponsors WaterSense, a program certi­fying products, programs and practices that protect the nation’s water supply through water efficiency. Products with the WaterSense label perform well, help save money and encourage manufacturing innovation. According to the EPA’s Web site, “Re­cent advancements have allowed toilets to use 20 percent less water than the current federal standard, while still providing equal or superior performance” (EPA Web site, 2008).

Life-Cycle Based Certifications

The Environmentally Preferable Product standard developed by Scientific Certification Systems ad­dresses multiple attributes over the full life cycle of a product. Products are evaluated by attributes it has while it is in use, while it is manufactured, if it conserves resources, if it is a risk to human health, and end-of-life considerations.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed environmental management standards (ISO 14000) that incorporate LCA protocol (ISO 14040). These standards (ISO 14001) organizations repetitively duplicate, measure and report, and improve how their operations impact the environment. They enable com­pliance with applicable laws, regulations and other environmentally oriented requirements.

Founded in 1989, Green Seal aims to achieve a more sustainable world by promoting environmentally responsible production, purchasing and products. Green Seal evaluates products in different catego­ries with a life-cycle approach: looking at material extraction, manufacturing and use, recycling and disposal. Green Seal-certified products have been through evaluation, testing and a plant visit, and are better for human health and the environment.

Sustainable Materials Rating Technology (SMART)

The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS) is a nonprofit organization composed of leading environmental groups, governments and companies working to transform manufacturing and retail practices worldwide, so by 2015, sustainable products will be available in 90 percent of the global marketplace.

Mike Italiano, a founder of the U.S. Green Building Council and president of MTS, has worked to devel­oped SMaRT (Sustainable Materials Rating Technol­ogy), a standard based on the entire life cycle of a product. SMaRT certification, a rating system with a set of minimum requirements, wants to create one comprehensive sustainable standard by incorporat­ing the world’s best sustainable product standards. SMaRT standards are currently available for textiles, flooring, building products and apparel.
 
The U.S. Green Building Council has already adopted SMaRT and SMaRT -Certified Sustainable product credits within the LEED point system. To qualify for LEED Innovation and Design credit, 2.5 percent of all products in a building must be SMaRT certified, and a building must have a minimum of 60 percent Green-e power use or a 60 percent reduction in conventional energy use (or a combination of the two, achieving 60 percent).

Information about life-cycle assessment (LCA) satisfies the prerequisites for the SMaRT standard and the supply chain of a product is checked even if it is made in China. The SMaRT scoring system has four levels similar to the USGBC’s LEED levels: Sustainable, Sustainable Silver, Sustainable Gold and Sustainable Platinum.

SMaRT is one example of a benchmark standard. It takes into account the cradle to grave, or cradle-to-cradle cycle that a product goes through from the moment natural resources are extracted to what becomes of it when its useful life is over. SMaRT criteria also addresses long-term human health impact as well as social equity issues that incorporate a true triple-bottom-line approach. Al­though the way to measure and report a product’s level of sustainability has not been established as an accepted standard yet, it is important for purchasing departments to take responsibility and action to hold manufacturers responsible and ac­countable for the products they sell and how they market them. You might think you don’t have time or knowledge to ask all the right questions – and perhaps nobody does – yet.

All product manufacturers should be looking into reducing their environmental footprints. That commitment needs to be thoroughly entrenched in the boardroom of a company and not just in the marketing department. Use reputable third-party certifications that look at more than single impacts to help make decisions about which products to buy. But also begin to ask questions that go beyond the certification’s promise.

*Footnotes