ANN ARBOR, Mich. — NSF Sustainability, a division of global independent public health organization NSF International that provides sustainability standards development, testing, certification and claims validation for commercial and consumer products, has assessed and verified a health product declaration (HPD) for Alpar Architectural Products’ deTerra®  biobased polymer* wall protection in the color “natural.” HPDs provide accurate reporting of potential chemicals of concern in products and place each ingredient into the larger picture of human and environmental health.

The HPD Standard defines known environmental and human health effects which are identified in an HPD and used by builders and designers as a product transparency reporting tool to provide a complete inventory of the materials and ingredients in a building product. HPDs are one alternative to earn credit in the LEED v4 green building rating system under the Materials and Resources credit (MRc), Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Material Ingredients. This includes MRc Option 1, where full disclosure of known health hazards is provided, and MRc Option 2, where the product is assessed at 100 parts per million (ppm) and no known GreenScreen® Benchmark 1 hazards are present.

With the introduction of LEED v4 and its emphasis on transparency reporting, Alpar Architectural Products chose HPDs as a means to provide product transparency reporting and help its customers work toward the LEED v4 MRc, achieving both Option 1 and Option 2 requirements. A manufacturer of wall protection products for use in healthcare, commercial and institutional buildings, Alpar Architectural took the extra step to achieve full disclosure of all intentional ingredients to provide builders and designers the highest level of confidence that the data is accurate. View Alpar Architectural’s HPD listing.

“Alpar Architectural Products’ HPD provides an important tool to builders and designers striving to achieve green building certifications with an important tool. HPDs are a significant addition to the expanding portfolio of product transparency reports for specifiers, buyers and end users to utilize a standardized set of third-party verified, transparent data and information,” said Tom Bruursema, General Manager of NSF International’s Sustainability Division.

“Alpar Archiectural was an early adopter of chemical disclosure.  Our HPD helps illustrate our commitment to transparency and third-party verification through NSF International was a logical next step.  We are looking to release our next verified HPD, which includes additional pigments, very soon,” said Lisa Britton, President and Director of Alpar Architectural Products.

The NSF team of toxicologists, chemists and biologists assess and verify HPDs through a desk audit of documentation to verify compliance to the Health Product Declaration Standard from the HPD Collaborative™.

HPD verification complements NSF Sustainability’s expanding portfolio of green chemistry and sustainability services, including Clean Production Action’s (CPA) GreenScreen, EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE), and GreenBlue’s CleanGredients™ analyses, and product category rule (PCR) development and environmental product declaration (EPD) certifications.

For more information on NSF Sustainability’s services or HPD verification, visit nsfsustainability.org or contact Jamie Bush at sustainability@nsf.org.

About NSF International: NSF International is an independent global organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for the construction, food, water, health sciences and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment (nsf.org). Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide.  Operating in more than 155 countries, NSF International is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Indoor Environment.

NSF Sustainability draws upon this expertise in standards development, product assurance and certification, advisory services and quality management systems to help companies create more sustainable products, operations, systems and supply chains.  Additional NSF services include Education and Training, safety audits for the food and water industries, nutritional/dietary supplement certification, organic certification provided by QAI (Quality Assurance International) and management systems registrations delivered through NSF International Strategic Registrations (NSF-ISR). NSF-ISR services include ISO 14001 environmental management systems registration, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and chain of custody (COC) certifications.

About Alpar Architectural Products:  Alpar Architectural is a manufacturer of wall protection for use in healthcare, commercial and institutional buildings. All of its products are PVC free, petroleum free and made from recycled, recyclable or rapidly renewable materials, including deTerra® biobased polymer, aluminum and stainless steel. 

About Health Product Declaration Collaborative™: The Health Product Declaration Collaborative is a customer-led organization committed to the continuous improvement of the building industry’s performance through openness and innovation in the product supply chain. The HPD Collaborative created and supports the health product declaration (HPD), an objective tool for the accurate reporting of product contents and how each ingredient relates to the bigger picture for ecological health. The HPD helps us impartially define the critical information needed by manufacturers, suppliers, building designers, specifiers, owners, and users. It is freely available at www.hpdcollaborative.org.

* DeTerra® biobased polymer is a registered trademark of Interfacial Solutions IP, LLC.