What is the USGBC?
What is LEED?
What is SCS?
What is FSC?
What are EPPs?
What is off-gassing?
What are VOCs?
What is formaldehyde?
What is Phenol Formaldehyde (PF)?
What is chlorine?
What is the difference between postconsumer, preconsumer, and recovered materials?
Q What is the USGBC? (return to top)
A The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from
across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable
and healthy places to live and work. Council members work together
to develop LEED® products and resources, the GreenBuild Annual International Conference and Expo,
policy guidance,
and educational and marketing tools that support the adoption of sustainable building.
www.usgbc.org
Q What is LEED? (return to top)
A LEED®, the "Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design" Green Building Rating System, is the
nationally accepted standard for green buildings developed by the USGBC membership. It is a voluntary,
consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.
www.usgbc.org
Q What is SCS? (return to top)
A Scientific Certification Systems offers evaluation and certification services to a broad range of manufacturing
sectors. The company's environmental division certifies a wide variety of claims related to environmental
achievement in product manufacturing. Specific product attributes such as recycled content, indoor air quality
and biodegradability, are certified under the Environmental Claims Certification program.
www.scscertified.com
Q What is FSC? (return to top)
A The Forest Stewardship Council is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible
management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally
responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way.
www.fscus.org
www.fsc.org
Q What are EPPs? (return to top)
A Environmentally Preferable Products means products or services that have a lesser or reduced effect on human
health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose.
For cabinets, qualifying EPPs have low VOC (no added urea-formaldehyde resins), recycled content or are FSC
certified.
www.usgbc.org
Q What is off-gassing? (return to top)
A Off-gassing, also known as out gassing is the emission of chemicals from building materials, furniture, textiles,
bedding or other products in the home. Many of those ''new house'' smells that we've come to enjoy are actually
hazardous to our health -- they accumulate in the bloodstream and have been linked by some scientists to the
increasing rates of asthma and some cancers, particularly in children. The best way to avoid off-gassing is to look
for natural products that don't contain toxins such as formaldehyde.
Q What are VOCs? (return to top)
A Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals,
some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are
consistently higher
indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering
in the thousands.
Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office
equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft
materials including
glues
and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions. Formaldehyde, one of the best known VOCs,
is one of the
few
indoor air pollutants that can be readily measured. Whenever possible, look for products labeled as having low,
no or zero
VOCs.
www.epa.gov/iaq/voc
Q What is formaldehyde? (return to top)
A Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling gas. Formaldehyde is normally present at low levels, usually
less than 0.03
ppm,
in both outdoor and indoor air. It is highly irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract. Some people are very
sensitive to
formaldehyde
while other may not be bothered at all. The major sources of formaldehyde in most homes are pressed-wood
products made
with
urea-formaldehyde (UF), which is used as an adhesive in hardwood plywood, particleboard and medium density fiberboard.
Emissions of formaldehyde are highest when products are new; as products age, emissions decrease.
Formaldehyde has been
classified
by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health organization, as “carcinogenic to
humans.”
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html
Q What is Phenol Formaldehyde (PF)? (return to top)
A PF is used as a bonding agent in the production of insulation, plywood, and other building materials. Although formaldehyde
is present
in PF and UF resins, pressed woods that contain PF resin generally emit formaldehyde at considerably lower
rates than those
containing UF resin.
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html
Q What is chlorine? (return to top)
A Chlorine is a highly reactive gas and a naturally occurring element. The largest users of chlorine
are companies that make ethylene dichloride and other chlorinated solvents, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins,
chlorofluorocarbons, and propylene oxide. Breathing small amounts of chlorine for short periods of time
adversely affects the human respiratory system. Effects range from coughing and chest pain to water retention
in the lungs. Chlorine irritates the skin, the eyes, and the respiratory system. These effects are not likely
to occur at levels of chlorine that are normally found in the environment. Human health
effects associated with breathing or otherwise consuming small amounts of chlorine over long periods of time are
not known. The American Public Health Association (APHA) on October 27, 1993, unanimously passed a resolution
urging American industry to stop using the chemical chlorine. Chlorine was listed as a hazardous air pollutant
in the 1990 Clean Air Act, and exposure to chlorine in the workplace is regulated by federal standards.
http://www.epa.gov/chemfact/f_chlori.txt
Q What is the difference between postconsumer, preconsumer, and recovered materials? (return to top)
A Recycled content products are often labeled with percentages of postconsumer and recovered material. Postconsumer material is a material or a finished product that has served its intended use and then is diverted or
recovered before it is disposed. It is the material consumers and businesses recycle; it does not include
manufacturer’s waste that is commonly reused in the original manufacturing process. Postconsumer material is
part of the broader category of recovered material.
Preconsumer material is material that is recycled before it is used by a consumer. For example, paper mill scraps
that are recycled at a paper mill.
Recovered materials are waste materials and byproducts that have been recovered or diverted from solid waste
landfills, but do not include those materials and byproducts generated from, and commonly reused within, an
original manufacturing process. For example, steel scrap from an automobile plant that is recycled and made
into steel beams is recovered material, but scrap paper that is recycled again in the paper mill is not.
http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/solidwastebuyingrecycled.htm
