Product Manufacturing Category Scoring Criteria

The criteria for product manufacturing include a sensitivity to environmental concerns. Photo courtesy of Resilient Floor Covering Institute

The criteria under this second category are focused on manufacturing and are intended to "encourage manufacturers to quantify the environmental impacts from their manufacturing, and then act to reduce or remove those impacts." Organized into five sub-categories, it includes the three prerequisites related to environmental policy, energy inventory, and water use inventory plus the ability to earn up to 29 points based on the criteria below:

Environmental Policy and Management

The intent of these criteria is to ensure that manufacturers have a basis from which to include strategic environmental management within their organization.

Registered EMS system. The manufacturer can receive three points for documenting that its Environmental Management System (EMS) system is certified under ISO 14001 by a third party certifier.

Maintaining environmental attributes through manufacturing.

The manufacturer can receive one point for implementing a tracking system to ensure that design criteria specified in its EMS system are not cost-engineered or otherwise modified during the manufacturing process.

Conservation of Energy Resources

A manufacturer can reduce its environmental impact by means of its energy initiatives: both reduction of consumption (i.e., conservation) and selection of source (i.e., renewable sources). The criteria below encourages both approaches in order to reduce the environmental impacts from energy production and consumption, including resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous air pollutants.

Reduction of environmental impact of energy input. The manufacturer can demonstrate overall reduction in the environmental impact of its energy inputs on a unit product(s) basis, facility basis or total manufacturing operation of compliant or similar product(s). Reduction must be calculated from the year 2000 or later. Impact reduction shall be quantified based on measured reductions in energy consumption (i.e. direct fuel, electricity, steam) and/or conversion of energy inputs from non-renewable resources (e.g., fossil fuels) to renewable alternatives. Significantly, the manufacturer can receive between 2 to 10 points based on a chart within the Standard corresponding to reductions from 1 percent to over 35 percent.

Management of Water Resources

The criteria within this category encourage the conservation of water sources and protection of water quality.

Reduced water consumption. The manufacturer can receive one point on a per-unit basis from the year 2000 or later for an average of 1 percent water reduction per year over a given 5-year period or a 5 percent reduction of water consumption over the last 10 years.

Water quality. The manufacturer can earn up to 2 points for documenting that wastewater released either to a publicly owned treatment works (POTW), or directly to the environment, is of a quality equal to or better than the quality of the supplied water according to established standards.

Optimization of Material Resources

The criteria here are intended to encourage the maximization of yield from product(s) raw materials and to minimize the generation of waste materials during production.

Waste minimization program. The manufacturer can receive one point for having a documented and operational waste minimization program that includes quantification of waste generation rate.

Manufacturing waste minimization. The manufacturer can receive either one point for demonstrating a waste generation reduction rate of at least 10 percent over the previous 10 years or two points for demonstrating an annual average total waste generation rate of less than 2 percent on a weight basis.

Packaging minimization. The manufacturer can incorporate packaging and delivery methods that minimize waste generation during transport and installation of product(s). It shall receive one point if a product's packaging weight is documented as constituting less than 2 percent of the product's weight. Where pallets are normally used in shipment of flooring product(s), including the pallet weight in the 2 percent requirement is waived provided a recycling or reclamation program has been documented for the used pallets.

Protection of Air Resources

These criteria are intended to minimize or eliminate the production and release of greenhouse gases and of known air contaminants.

Greenhouse gas loadings. The manufacturer can receive two points for completing a greenhouse gas inventory for product manufacturing operations in accordance with ISO 14064 or an equivalent standard.

Greenhouse gas reduction goals. The manufacturer can receive one point for establishing greenhouse gas reduction targets equal to 5 percent reduction using 2000 as the baseline year.

Greenhouse gas reductions. The manufacturer can demonstrate their own reduction in greenhouse gas loadings on a per unit production basis with the initial year of calculation being 2000 or later. The manufacturer can receive one point for each 10% reduction up to a maximum of three points.

PBT reductions. The manufacturer can seek to demonstrate that emissions of PBT compounds are below US EPA reporting levels. The manufacturer can receive one point for achieving this goal in relation to emissions from its on-site activities and/or one point for achieving the goal in relation to emissions from its supplied electricity source/s, for a maximum of two total points.

Long-Term Value Category Scoring Criteria

The criteria under this category focus on encouraging manufacturers to maximize product longevity which is dependent on its durability and performance characteristics thus reducing the replacement cycle and environmental impact. Up to 9 points are available in three sub-categories after satisfying the two prerequisites of recommended usage and minimization of VOCs.

The criteria for long term value include the ability of the product to perform as intended and remain durable over time. Photo courtesy of Resilient Floor Covering Institute

Fitness of Purpose

The criteria here are intended to demonstrate that the product(s) performs as intended in order to ensure that positive environmental attributes have not been undermined by lower-quality performance.

Durability. The manufacturer can receive 4 points for providing documentation showing that the product(s) performs at or above performance requirements as described in industry-recognized standards that are relevant to the specific product(s).

Protection of Indoor Air Quality
This criteria is meant to demonstrate that the product(s) and its associated adhesives and sealants do not release chemicals of concern or provide a pathway for other elements that are potentially irritating and/or harmful to installers and occupants.

Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC). The manufacturer can receive one point by annually tracking the TVOC emissions of the finished flooring product and showing that the TVOC level has not exceeded its defined baseline value by more than 500 ug/m3 as determined using a specified office modeling program.

De minimis indoor carcinogenic VOC emissions. The manufacturer can receive one point for demonstrating that carcinogenic or reproductive toxicant VOCs are not emitted from products at levels above the Safe Exposure Levels (SELs) as described in a specified standard.

Minimal short-term adhesive and sealant emissions. The manufacturer can receive one point for demonstrating that adhesives and sealants (as applicable) recommended for use by the flooring manufacturer meet the VOC content limits established in specified standards.

Compatibility with green maintenance strategies. Here the focus is on ensuring that resilient flooring products sold in the marketplace are compatible with, and encourage the use of, green maintenance strategies.

Elimination of chemicals of concern from cleaning products. One point is available for demonstrating that the recommended cleaning products and maintenance procedures (including stripping and resealing) do not require the use of any of the listed chemicals of concern in specified lists nor contain those chemicals at levels equal to or greater than 1000 ppm (0.1 percent).

Control of VOC emissions from cleaning products. The manufacturer can receive one point for demonstrating that recommended cleaning products do not exceed the maximum allowable VOC levels established by California for the relevant product(s) group.