Library

Directory of products certified with the Green Seal label.

Over half a million tonnes of discarded electronic appliances are improperly processed in Nigeria every year, threatening the country's environment and the health of approximately 100,000 informal workers in the recycling industry.
With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Government of Nigeria has joined forces with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners to turn the tide on e-waste under the “Circular Economy Approaches for the Electronics Sector in Nigeria” project. Led by UNEP and supported by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency of Nigeria (NESREA), the $15-million initiative brought together players from the Government, the private sector, and civil society to design and operationalise a financially self-sustaining circular economy (CE) for electronics in Nigeria.
The project aims to stimulate a CE pilot through an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme that serves as a model for countries facing similar challenges. EPR is an integrated waste management approach that extends the responsibility of manufacturers to the entire lifecycle of their product, particularly to the end-of-life treatment. By applying this approach, the producers will be obliged to commission for collecting, pre-treating and recycling their originated e-waste. 
The project creates synergies among pre-existing elements of an EPR system in Nigeria to establish a sustainable management system and financing mechanism for EPR implementation. Establishing and enforcing a sustainable approach in Nigeria with supporting regulations and legally binding requirements is expected to recover and re-introduce usable materials into the value chain, dispose of hazardous e-waste streams in an environmentally sound manner, and create safe employment for Nigerian e-waste workers.
 

Database containing products that have sustainability credits, variety of product certifications or a variety of building certification scheme including validation of claims by UL.

Catalog of products for which Environmental Performance Declaration or Material Ingredient information is available. Also includes products for which information related to rating systems are available.

SundaHus Environmental Data is a Swedish database of products used in construction and buildings with an environmental rating A-D.  The product assessment is based on the provider's documentation of the product together with the rules of the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate's PRIO criteria and EU REACH Directives.

Database listing products that have obtained the Declare Label by the Living Building Challenge.

In January 2019, the California Building Standards Commission unanimously approved changes to the state building codes proposed by the California Office of the State Fire Marshal. The changes allow use of polystyrene insulation without flame retardants below a concrete slab-on-grade. These changes would maintain fire safety while improving human and environmental health.  This fact sheet details the key considerations for implementation of a policy on allowing flame retardant-free insulation within a building code, and the associated health and technical considerations.

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List represents the “worst in class” materials, chemicals, and elements known to pose serious risks to human health and the greater ecosystem that are prevalent in the building products industry. The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) believes that these materials should be phased out of production due to human and/or environmental health and toxicity concerns. While there are certainly other items that could be added, this list was determined by selecting items with the greatest potential impact if they were significantly curbed or eliminated from the building industry. ILFI worked with the Healthy Building Network and the Pharos Project to develop the original Red List in 2006.

Red List classes are added or retired with each new version of the LBC Standard. The revised chemical groupings that were established as part of the LBC 4.0 release more suitably categorize Red List chemicals by function, application within the building products sector and structural similarity. The chemical classes are described below, and the chemicals included in each group are detailed in the 2022 LBC Red List CASRN Guide. While all chemicals in the 2022 LBC Red List CASRN Guide fall within the list of chemical classes outlined in the Standard, not necessarily all chemicals in an LBC Red List Class are included in the enforceable CASRN Guide. The CASRN Guide itself is typically updated on an annual basis in January, and seeks to ensure that the Red List remains a leadership tool and reflects best available science.