by Brianna Crandall — October 27, 2014—Award-winning furniture designer and manufacturer Herman Miller, Inc., announced October 22 that it is making a new tool available to help interior designers, their customers, and related professionals obtain sustainability information on select Herman Miller products. The information, contained in what is known as an Environmental Product Declaration, or EPD, has been verified by an independent third-party organization.
An EPD is intended to help in making purchase decisions and supporting applications for sustainability certifications, such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Herman Miller says that issuing the EPDs now, well before a new rule goes into effect that requires them, illustrates the company’s leadership in sustainability and transparency, and is in line with the company’s Earthright strategy, announced earlier this year.
Environmental Product Declaration
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a verified document that reports environmental data of products based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) and fulfilling certain product-specific calculations and requirements known as product category rules (PCRs), in accordance with the international ISO 14025 (Type III Environmental Declarations).
Transparency in sharing environmental information is the foundation of the EPDs, notes Herman Miller. The company’s EPDs are verified to meet the requirements of the BIFMA PCR (Product Category Rule), which will take effect in 2015. The rule seeks to give quantified environmental information through a globally recognized system approach.
Benefits
EPDs allow for the fair comparison of environmental impacts between similar products. They can help people make better decisions by understanding where any environmental hot spots may exist in a product, and can contribute to new Materials and Resources credits in LEED v4.
Herman Miller’s EPDs demonstrate the company’s work with its supply chain to find new and existing materials that can positively affect the environmental footprint of its products, as well as the efforts of the company’s product development team to find more sustainable material choices for new products now in development.
Products with EPDs currently available
Environmental Product Declarations are currently available for the following products:
- Aeron Chair
- Embody Chair
- Mirra 2 Chair
- Celle Chair
- Caper Stacking Chair
- SAYL Chair
- Setu Chair
Herman Miller will provide the EPDs for the products upon request. To learn more about the EPDs, e-mail environmentalaffairsgroup@hermanmiller.com.
