Toxics in Articles and Products
Reducing or eliminating toxics in articles reduces the risk of exposure for facility employees, suppliers, customers and the environment. It can also increase efficiency, improve competitiveness, and reduce or eliminate chemicals on customers' restricted substances lists.
The following information resources may be useful to facilities that are formulating a resource conservation plan to reduce toxics in articles or products.
General Information
Design for the Environment. "EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) Program works in partnership with a broad range of stakeholders to reduce risk to people and the environment by preventing pollution. DfE focuses on industries that combine the potential for chemical risk reduction and improvements in energy efficiency with a strong motivation to make lasting, positive changes."
Green Procurement. "Green procurement is a way of adding environmental considerations to the price and performance criteria businesses use to make purchasing (transaction) decisions. Green purchasing is a consideration of supply chain management and is also known as environmentally preferred purchasing (EPP), green procurement, affirmative procurement, eco-procurement, and environmentally responsible purchasing."
Safer Facility Maintenance
Cleaning for Health. "Toxic chemicals found in many cleaning products can jeopardize the health of janitorial workers and other building occupants. Several states and local governments have found that switching to “greener cleaners” has improved indoor air quality, reduced complaints among janitorial staff and even saved them money. This report is a one-stop guide to environmentally preferable cleaning products and methods that have been effectively used in office buildings, schools, hospitals and other facilities in the United States and Canada."
Pennsylvania Green Building Maintenance Manual. "This manual is intended to minimize such adverse impacts on health and the environment from the operation and maintenance of buildings and grounds. Following it should lessen the load of toxic or otherwise unhealthful substances both on maintenance workers and on building occupants."
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) In and Around Buildings. "IPM uses targeted, sustainable (effective, economical, environmentally sound) methods including habitat, modification, biological control, genetic control, cultural control, mechanical control, physical control, regulatory control, and where necessary, the judicious use of least-hazardous pesticides."
Green Seal Choose Green Report: Floor-Care Products. "For this report, Green Seal examined acrylic polymer floor finishes and strippers available on the market for resilient/vinyl tile flooring (not including floor cleaners, sealers, or spray buff products). We surveyed the manufacturers of these products to gather information on the ingredients found in their finishes and strippers and reviewed potential environmental and health impacts. The result of this survey and evaluation is a list of recommended floor-care products and the criteria used in their selection."
Vehicle/Fleet Maintenance
Auto Repair and Fleet Maintenance Pollution Prevention."These materials are meant for state and local environmental agencies and technical assistance programs that want high-quality, tested materials to use in their outreach efforts; trade associations looking to provide state-of-the-art Pollution Prevention information to their members, and auto shops and fleet repair facilities who need cost-effective solutions for their environmental problems."
Best References: Auto Repair and Fleet Maintenance. "The automobile has been one of the most significant and enduring innovations in modern history. However, vehicle use and maintenance generate considerable environmental impacts. The automotive repair and maintenance sector discusses cost-effective strategies to improve environmental performance and worker safety in the automobile repair industry. Information is provided for improved methods to manage vehicle fluids, batteries, tires, solvents and shop rags. Environmentally friendly parts cleaning, surface preparation and coating techniques are also discussed."
Pitstops Manual: Best Management Practices for Automobile Service Facilities. "There are different types of waste streams generated in the automotive repair industry. Waste streams may be generated from cleaning up the shop area, painting, or cleaning parts to do repair work. Waste streams may also be generated during scheduled and nonscheduled maintenance and repair. Scheduled maintenance includes changing engine oil, oil filters, transmissions fluids and radiator fluids while nonscheduled maintenance includes replacing batteries, brakes, shocks and tires."
Building Products
Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) Certified Products Database. "SCS is a third-party provider of certification, auditing and testing services, and standards. The database allows users to search for certified products by manufacturer, product category, product sub-category, product type, brand name, and certification number. Users also can conduct searches by the relevant SCS certification program and by conformance program or standard such as the ANSI/BIFMA furniture emissions standards or LEED (the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program)."
Architectural Record Green Building Guide. "Quite a bit of attention has been focused on the issue of green building materials. What makes a given product "green"? How does one evaluate the relative greenness of different products? How does one find green products? More important, perhaps, manufacturers are asking, "How can we make our products greener?" Our approach with this directory is to identify quantifiable, easily verifiable standards, where these can be defined, then base other decisions about what should be included on the collective wisdom of our editorial staff."
GREENGUARD Online Product Guide. "The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) is an industry-independent, non-profit organization that oversees the GREENGUARD Certification Program. As an ANSI Authorized Standards Developer, GEI establishes acceptable indoor air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings. All GREENGUARD Certified products are listed in the an indoor air quality (IAQ) resource that is provided at no charge. The guide features products, which are regularly tested to ensure that their chemical and particle emissions meet acceptable IAQ pollutant guidelines and standards."
Healthy Building Network (HBN) PVC-Free Alternatives. The Healthy Building Network is developing a series of tools to help you find PVC free building materials for your projects. These lists are by no means exhaustive or complete but will help you begin your search.
This page updated Friday January 11 2008