Certificates

BREEAM for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and has become one of the most comprehensive and widely recognised measures of a building's environmental performance.

A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology. They include aspects related to energy and water use, the internal environment (health and well-being), pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes.

A certificated BREEAM assessment is delivered by a licensed organisation, using assessors trained under a UKAS accredited competent person scheme, at various stages in a buildings life cycle. This provides clients, developers, designers and others with:

• - market recognition for low environmental impact buildings,
• - confidence that tried and tested environmental practice is incorporated in the building,
• - inspiration to find innovative solutions that minimise the environmental impact,
• - a benchmark that is higher than regulation,
• - a system to help reduce running costs, improve working and living environments,
• - a standard that demonstrates progress towards corporate and organisational environmental objectives.

The letters ‘CE’ appear on many products traded on the extended Single Market in the European Economic Area (EEA). They signify that products sold in the EEA have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements.

Manufacturers play a vital role in ensuring that products placed on the extended single market of the EEA are safe. It is their responsibility to carry out the conformity assessment, set up the technical file, issue the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking to a product.

Importers and distributors help ensure that only products compliant with EU rules, bearing CE marking are placed on the EEA market. As intermediaries between manufacturers and traders they must have knowledge of the legal requirements and ensure that products they distribute or import meet them.

EU consumers may have different preferences when it comes to the colour or brand of products such as a new laptop or a toy for their children. At the same time, they expect all products on the market to be safe.

The Blue Angel is an internationally recognized environmental label awarded by the Department of the Environment in Germany. Products with the Blue Angel seal of quality contain very low levels of emissions in order to ensure a healthy indoor climate.

The Blue Angel is the first and most well-known eco-label worldwide. Since 1978 it has set the standard for eco-friendly products and services selected by an independent jury in line with defined criteria. The Blue Angel is awarded to companies as kind of a reward for their commitment to environmental protection. Before obtaining the Blue Angel label, the product is examined at every stage from tree harvesting and production to usage and final recirculation. Manufacturer has been awarded The Blue Angel.

The Blue Angel is an ecological beacon showing the consumer the way to the ecologically superior product and promotes environmentally conscious consumption.

The Cradle to Cradle Certified® Product’s framework was created by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart after the publication of their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

Cradle to Cradle Certified® is an internationally recognized measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy. From fragrances to flooring, t-shirts and jeans to water bottles and window treatments, thousands of products are Cradle to Cradle Certified®. This certification ensures that the product’s raw materials are reused or returned to nature.

The Cradle to Cradle Certified® Products Innovation Institute assess the product and provides feedback. Each product is judged on five different aspects: Material Health, Material Reutilization, Renewable Energy and Carbon Management, Water Stewardship, and Social Fairness. There are five levels of certification: Basic, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. To be certified at a certain level, a product must meet the minimum criteria for that level in all five criteria categories.

The criteria in each category becoming increasingly demanding with each level of certification. However, a company can gradually improve their product from Basic all the way to Platinum. Even if a product doesn’t become certified, these assessments are a great way to evaluate how a product can improve!

Today, more than 95% of all raw materials used in production originate from forests within Europe, that have extensive reforestation programs and either belong to forestry certification schemes like e.g. FSC™ or are working towards certification. In the Manufacturer Group, all Manufacturer companies have implemented a chain of custody system in accordance with the FSC™ standards. As a procurer of timber Manufacturer has an important heritage to maintain. Constant dialogue with environmental protection authorities and organizations, investment in new manufacturing technologies allows us to continually reduce waste.

All raw material used in production is sourced from forest areas that are properly managed with a high degree of regeneration. The goal is to ensure that all of our raw material is certified. We invest in sustainable production and guarantee a controlled and certified supply chain. The development of alternative exotic species shows Manufacturer’s consciousness towards the environment.

We offer products that respect the environment and human well-being. The adhesive and surface treatments that we use do not produce any hazardous gases or other bi-products.

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) provides comprehensive information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the disposal or recycling of the product. The EPD provides information about a product's impact upon the environment, such as global warming potential, smog creation, ozone depletion and water pollution.

EPD information is used by professionals such as architects and planners to make informed decisions about the environmental impact of the products they use in their projects.

EPDs are based on the ISO 14025 standard, which ensures that the information provided in the EPD is reliable, transparent, and comparable. However, it's important to note that EPDs are not meant to be used as a direct comparison tool between different products, as the environmental impact of a product depends on its context of use and if the entire life cycle of the product has been taken into account.

Construction and interior products are an essential part of our daily lives, and their environmental and health impacts should be taken into consideration. The French government has recognized this and has implemented the Environmental and Health Declaration Sheets (FDES, or Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire) for construction and interior products. The INIES (national reference database in France for environmental and health data on construction products and equipment) provides these FDES certifications.

The FDES certification process involves evaluating the entire life cycle of a product, from the extraction of raw materials to the end of its life, including transport, production, and the use of the product itself. This life cycle assessment helps to understand the environmental and health impacts of a product and provides transparency to the consumers and builders. Furthermore, the FDES also contains information on the product health and its environmental impact.

The FDES certification is a new requirement in France for all building and construction materials when used in new construction. It is mandatory for all manufacturers of construction and interior products to have their products certified by INIES before they can be used in new construction in France. This requirement is a significant step towards promoting environmentally friendly and healthy building materials in France.

FloorScore® is a third-party certification developed in collaboration with the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) and the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI). To be certified, a product is placed in a chamber and examined for a total of fourteen days.

A product emissions test is completed where 35 individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as formaldehyde and chloroform, are evaluated to see if they meet the strict indoor air quality thresholds set forth by the California Section 01350 program. All VOCs tested are target VOCs which are known to be harmful to human health.

Therefore, it is important that products are tested to ensure safety. Products eligible for FloorScore certification include but are not limited to the following: Hardwood Engineered Flooring, Bamboo Flooring, Laminate Flooring, Raised Flooring, Underlayments, Wall Base, Cork Flooring, and Flooring Adhesives.

FloorScore® is the most recognized indoor air quality (IAQ) certification standard for hard surface flooring materials, adhesives, and underlayment’s. FloorScore® is a voluntary, independent certification program that tests and certifies hard surface flooring and associated products for compliance with criteria adopted in California for indoor air emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) with potential health effects. All products certified under the program meet the indoor air quality emissions criteria of LEED, CHPS, the Green Guide for Health Care, and are recognized by a long list of other healthy building programs.

Certification is not an easy process and the FloorScore® Certification seal ensures floors have met all necessary requirements. The certification process typically consists of: Evaluation - including a review of the product's specific formulation and manufacturing site's document control system. On-site audit by a third party to confirm production Third-Party product emissions testing to ensure no harmful chemicals are used in the floors, known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

FloorScore tests for 35 individual Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) specified by the California Standard Method for VOC Emissions Testing and Evaluation (Standard Method V1.2), otherwise known as CA Section 01350. Formaldehyde, as regulated in CARB phase 2 and TSCA title VI is just one of the VOCs tested in this process

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC™) is a well-known independent, not-for-profit organisation. The mission of FSC™: The Forest Stewardship Council™ A.C. shall promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests.

• - Environmentally appropriate forest management ensures that the harvest of timber and non-timber products maintains the forest's biodiversity, productivity, and ecological processes.
• - Socially beneficial forest management helps both local people and society at large to enjoy long term benefits and also provides strong incentives to local people to sustain the forest resources and adhere to long-term management plans.
• - Economically viable forest management means that forest operations are structured and managed so as to be sufficiently profitable, without generating financial profit at the expense of the forest resource, the ecosystem, or affected communities.

The tension between the need to generate adequate financial returns and the principles of responsible forest operations can be reduced through efforts to market the full range of forest products and services for their best value.

GREENGUARD is a third-party certification developed by Underwriters Laboratories Environment. A GREENGUARD certification helps consumers identify interior products and materials that have low chemical emissions.

The goal is to improve indoor air quality and public health. To obtain GREENGUARD certification, each product is kept in a dynamic environmental chamber for one to two weeks. After one or two weeks, the certifying agencies test the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) levels in the chamber. If the emission levels are low, the products earn their certification.

It is important to note that GREENGUARD has two tiers of certification: Greenguard Gold or Greenguard Certification mark. The Greenguard Gold adheres to even stricter standards than the Greenguard certification criteria. For example, the Greenguard Certification allows 500 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air) total VOCs. This is much more than the Greenguard Gold limit of only 220 μg/m3 total VOCs.

The Gold standard even checks for additional chemicals. A consumer should focus on the Greenguard Gold Certification if they live with children, the elderly, or someone with a weak immune system. It is also a good idea to focus on Greenguard Gold Certification if one is building schools or healthcare facilities.

Health Product Declarations (HPDs) are disclosures of the contents that are in a product as delivered to the consumer and their associated health hazards. They disclose the potentially harmful chemicals in a product by comparing the content of that product to sets of priority “hazard” lists based on the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals and other various lists from governmental agencies. HPDs are self-created by the manufacturer of the product, the company responsible for the final product, or a consultant using the HPD Builder. They have become an important reporting tool in green building standards such as LEED® and the WELL Building Standard™.HPDs are created following the guidance of the HPD Open Standard. To complete an HPD, the following information is necessary:

• - Inventory of all substances/ingredients present in the final product, identified by a Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number that represents at least 0.1% of the total product weight
• - Information about recycled content used in the product
• - Information about the role that each substance plays in the product i.e.: binder, adhesive, pigment, etc.
• - information about VOC Content (if the product is liquid or wet applied) and VOC emissions and other testing related to environmental impact or human health

The HPD-Collaborative is an organization which helps manufacturers develop and publish their own HPDs. To see published HPDs, please visit HPD Public Repository where you will find over 7000 published HPDs.

The Living Product Challenge (LPC) is a framework for manufacturers to create products that are healthy, inspirational, and give back to the environment. Living products are “challenged” to be informed by principles of biomimicry and biophilia, to be made using processes powered exclusively by renewable energy, to improve one’s quality of life, and to be both beautiful and functional.

The LPC is first a philosophy and advocacy tool, and then a certification. There are three levels of certifications: the Living Product Certification, the Living Product Petal Certification, and the Living Product Imperative Certification. These third-party certifications are conducted by various companies including GreenCircle Certified, TerraGenesis, WAP Sustainability, SCS Global Services, and Likolab.

LPCs focus on categories such as water, energy, climate, waste, and ecological impacts. There are seven performance categories known as Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Within these seven petals are 20 Imperatives. Overall, LPC’s goal is to create living products that are healthy and free of toxins, are socially responsible and respectful of the rights of workers and have a net positive and benefit both people and the environment.

The MAS Certified Green® program is ISO/IEC 17065 accredited by A2LA as a third-party certification body. MAS Certified Green® is recognized globally as one of the premier certification marks for low VOC-emitting products.

MAS provides both static and dynamic emissions testing services to determine the type and concentrations of chemical compounds potentially off-gassed from finished products and raw materials into the indoor environment.

Static test protocols typically involve a headspace measurement of emissions yielding qualitative results derived from short duration “flash” emissions. Dynamic test methods are similar but involve placing a sample in an inert chamber and monitoring off-gassed emissions over a set period of time (accounting for indoor ventilation rates typical of today’s building environments). The advantages of dynamic or chamber test methods are that they allow for predictions of air concentrations in the future by establishing decay curves for the materials tested.

The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) is a not-for-profit association representing all segments of the hardwood flooring industry, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, installers, importers, exporters, inspectors, and consultants.

NOFMA stands for National Oak Flooring Manufacturer’s Association, but the NOFMA standards program goes far beyond the oak species. The certification program is managed and administered by the NWFA and can be applied to many types of hardwood flooring.

NWFA’s NOFMA certification provides an assurance that your wood flooring meets or exceeds industry standards for grade, configuration, moisture content, and average board length. The process ensures that each piece of hardwood flooring leaving the mill meets the high standards for NOFMA certification.

The Real Wood logo is administered exclusively by authorised manufacturers belonging to the European Federation of the Parquet Industry (FEP). The decision in favour of real wood owes ecological benefits. To manufacture, work and store wood is needed considerably less energy than for other materials.

The environmental benefits of choosing real wood are indisputable. Far less energy is consumed in timber production, processing and disposal, than with any other construction material. And, after each wood harvest, the forests are replanted for the next generation.

Today, because the popularity of real wood floors has grown, so too has the commitment to cultivation. Many more trees are grown than are currently harvested, so increased demand has had a positive effect on the environment. It encourages the planting of more trees.

The more trees we use, the more we plant, because virtually all of the European wood that is used is sourced from managed forests. 'Harvesting' creates space for new growth - and this often happens at a rate of two trees planted for every one felled.

Certification of your environmental management system demonstrates increased awareness of sustainable development and gives environmentally credible companies a competitive edge in national and international markets.

ISO 14001 provides a clear management framework to reduce your environmental impacts and to ensure you meet legal requirements and build stakeholder trust. The standard provides your organisation with a systematic approach to planning, implementing and managing an environmental management system.

ISO 14001 specifies requirements for an organisation to proactively identify and understand the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services and associated environmental impacts.

• - It assists organisations to establish environmental policy and objectives and understand how significant aspects can be managed, implement necessary controls and set clear objectives to improve environmental performance.
• - It allows an organization to manage its obligation to comply with applicable legal and requirements and other stakeholder obligations, and to regularly check the compliance status. This permits a continual improvement of the management system to enhance its environmental performance. 

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel makes it easy to choose the most environmentally friendly product or service, and stands for reduced climate impact, circular economy, biodiversity and a non-toxic society.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is not just help to consumers, the environmental requirements of the label provide manufacturers with a blueprint for how they can produce their goods and services with the least possible environmental impact. The label is also an important tool for purchasers who want to set ambitious and specific environmental requirements in procurement.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel also places great emphasis on documentation and control. All documentation that the requirements are met is carefully reviewed and double-checked by us, and we visit the production site wherever it is in the world.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting prosperous, healthy and resilient communities. USGBC’s vision, mission, guiding principles, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) vision define who we are and what we do. They create our identity, embody our culture and values, and define the impact we seek to achieve.

• - Vision: The built environment enhances health, equity, resilience, sustainability, and prosperity for all life and all communities.
• - Mission: To transform how buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated to create thriving, healthy, equitable, and resilient places that advance human and environmental wellbeing.