Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

How to Avoid 'Greenwashed' Products

  • By Lauri Watnee
  • 11/01/15

Have you ever thought about what toxic materials might be lurking in your classroom walls, floors and furniture? Are you familiar with the Red List, the “worst in class” materials, chemicals and elements known to pose serious risks to human health and the greater ecosystem? If not, you might be surprised that Red List chemicals are commonly used in building products.

The good news is that some companies are fully committed to product disclosure, and believe that the process will encourage the development of more innovative green building products that will result in healthier indoor environments. After all, you want to make the right decisions for the health of your students when designing and constructing buildings by using ecologically sound products.

But with the lack of verifiable product information and all the greenwashing in the marketplace, how can you trust manufacturers?

The Living Building Challenge (livingfuture.org/lbc) has the world’s most aspirational green building standard and has incorporated transparency though its Declare program (www.declareproducts.com). You can use the Declare product database and label to find building products that have declared their ingredients, source and manufacturing locations. We recommend asking your suppliers to provide Declare labels, which serve as a clear, elegant and informative “nutrition label” for building products. Declare labels fill the information gap by answering three simple questions: Where does a product come from? What is it made of? And where does it go at the end of its life?

A number of companies have embraced third-party certifications, such as Declare, to help their customers make conscious, informed decisions.

Mohawk Group currently has Declare labels for 489 Red List-free products in the marketplace. All certifications are available on MohawkGroup.com and GreenWizard.com.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Lauri Watnee is the director of Education Segmentation at Mohawk Group.

Featured

  • Arizona District Breaks Ground on Community Training, Learning Center

    The Tolleson Union High School District (TUHSD) in Tolleson, Ariz., recently broke ground on a new Training & Learning Center (TLC) for both district professionals and the community at large, according to a news release. The 90,000-square-foot facility has an estimated completion date of spring 2027.

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.