by Shane Henson — December 4, 2013—Tarkett, a global provider of innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, announced that it has partnered with the Germany-based Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) to develop a new product transparency tool to meet the ever-increasing demands by architects, designers and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for full disclosure of ingredients in the building products industry in North America.
The new tool, Environmental and Health Statements (EHS), is a third-party reviewed declaration of content and material assessment for building products. The material assessment and review of content is performed by the EPEA. The EHS is designed to thoroughly address ingredient disclosure, possible health and environmental impacts, and post-use considerations. The EHS discloses, within a rating system, whether or not an ingredient may pose a potential risk to manufacturing workers or users of the product or the environment.
EPEA used Tarkett’s closed-loop circular design approach to environmental responsibility to assess each step of the product lifecycle based on four major pillars: Good Materials; Resource Stewardship; People-friendly Spaces; and Reuse and Recycle. Using this approach, EHS provides more-than-required information on selected ingredients and resource stewardship (primarily in water systems), looks at the well-being and health of people and the environment during product manufacturing and use, and addresses end-of-use with recycling and reuse to eliminate waste. It also gives an overview of the product certifications.
According to Tarkett, the EHS rating system is based on the precautionary principle, is easy to understand, and is consistent with the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) material assessment that is widely accepted in the building and design industry. C2C is the basis for creating a beneficial footprint. This tool will be available in North America soon. More information can be found by contacting the Technical Services departments of Johnsonite and/or Tandus Centiva.
