Search

This guidance document aims to give an overview of potential hazardous substances that might occur in construction products and when appearing as waste need attention during renovation and demolition activities. Focus in this guideline is on hazardous substances regulated by EU or international agreements or national legislation.

Although the present legislation restricts the use of many hazardous substances in new building products, there is a considerable concern for compounds present in old construction products, since their presence in construction and demolition waste may limit the recyclability of the material and potentially cause waste management problems. One group of substances that has recently received attention are persistent organic pollutants (POP substances) such as e.g. some brominated flame retardants.

Important characteristic of the construction and building products is the relatively long life span. Because of long lifespan the restricted substances will enter the waste stream many decades after a ban has been placed on their use and they can therefore be found in renovation or demolition waste for a long time. Many of these substances provide important functionality in a wide range of products, e.g. flame retardants.

Besides hazardous substances also degradation in composition and quality aspects (e.g. mould) of construction products needs to be considered.

This document is part of the pre-demolition overall guidance document developed in the PARADE project.

List to identify hazardous substances restricted by the state of California. 

The list contains a wide range of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals that are known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. These chemicals include additives or ingredients in pesticides, common household products, food, drugs, dyes, or solvents. Listed chemicals may also be used in manufacturing and construction, or they may be byproducts of chemical processes, such as motor vehicle exhaust. Learn how chemicals are added to the list.

Resource providing information on chemical hazards of building products and supporting practitioners in the US market to identify products with minimized chemical impacts

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.