Library

Guidance from the Healthy Building Network on selecting safer products for interior furniture and fittings.  The guidance looks at wood and composite materials, including glues and resins contained with these products.

Guidance from the Healthy Building Network on selecting a safer roofing product.

In recent years, awareness of the negative impacts of plastic waste and pollution on our environment has heightened.   The construction sector’s use of plastic continues to grow and there is a lack of clarity on how construction plastics at the end of life are managed. There is still much to learn about plastics in construction, such as the volumes of plastic used, types of polymers, their applications and lifespans. 

This interactive PDF guide has been developed by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products and peer-reviewed by the ASBP Plastics in Construction Group.

This site is a useful introduction to chemicals in building products. It lists the most commonly found hazardous chemicals in certain building products and the associated health risks.

Links to Chemical Inventories and Chemical Notifications in countries where these are in place.

Byggvarubedömningen, or BVB, is a building materials assessment tool for the Swedish construction market. BVB provides an evaluation standard based on seven factors: Chemical content; Input materials; the construction phase; the management phase; Demolition; Residual and waste products; Indoor environment. These are weighted to come up with a final score: either "recommended", "accepted" or "to be avoided".

This webpage shows which countries around the world have implemented national asbestos bans.

This webpage summarises actions undertaken by the US Environmental Protection Agency to protect the public from exposure to asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). One of EPA’s priorities is to protect the public from adverse health effects of asbestos, a known carcinogen.