Clearing the Air

As sustainable building practices advance, consideration for how a building’s indoor environment can affect human health continues to grow. Studies have shown that poor indoor air quality impacts the health and overall well-being of building occupants. On average, people spend 90 percent of their time indoors. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than outdoor air.

MAPEI is committed to the environment and human health and wellness. We understand the potential impact of our products and are purposeful in making improvements in our products, our workspace environments and our community. Voluntarily validating volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions through credible third-party testing plays an important role in human health and wellness, and it takes our commitment a step further.

VOCs are chemicals that are emitted as gases from several products, including adhesives, sealants and other chemical products for buildings. Third-party certification involves an independent assessment declaring that specified requirements have been met; products are tested for 35 individual VOCs specified by the California Standard Method for VOC Emissions Testing and Evaluation (California Department of Public Health [CDPH] Standard Method v1.2 or greater), otherwise known as CA Section 01350.

Testing our products to ensure that they meet or exceed CDPH Standard Method v1.2 demonstrates our commitment to the health and well-being of our end-users and the environment. We strive to meet the most stringent human health and environmental standards, including Green Label Plus from The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) and Indoor Advantage Gold certification for indoor air quality from SCS Global Services. By offering both certifications, MAPEI can offer timely assurance that products and systems meet requirements for low VOC emissions.

Third-party VOC emissions certification is also required in green-building standards and certification systems. MAPEI provides Sustainability Product Reports to help our customers recognize the health and environmental benefits of using MAPEI products in LEED, WELL, Living Building Challenge and other green-building certification projects.

To learn more about MAPEI’s products with low VOC emissions, e-mail sustainability_USA@mapei.com (in the USA) or sustainability-durabilite@mapei.com (in Canada).

To learn more about the SCS Indoor Advantage program, visit www.scsglobalservices.com/services/indoor-air-quality-certification.

To learn more about the CRI Green Label Plus program, visit carpet-rug.org/testing/green-label-plus/.