No Such Thing

OK people, listen up, there is no such thing as a LEED certified product. There are LEED certified projects and LEED Accredited Professionals. That’s about it.

Today I received a press release about a project that incorporated “LEED-certified products. ” Of course, it didn’t say what they are because there is no such thing. I also recently saw an ad about LEED-qualified materials, which is only slightly less bad if you assume that it was referring to the product’s ability to contribute to achieving LEED points.

Sometimes I read the stuff put out by PR agencies and shudder. For example, one release recently bragged that [the product] does not use PCB plastics. Seriously! PolyChlorinatedBiphenyl is a highly toxic substance and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants banned its production in the 1970s. Also, as far as I know, PCB’s were never used in plastic. Perhaps the writer was referring to phallates, an additive to PVC that has come under attack and has been removed from products by multiple manufacturers concerned about its safety.

The same press release touted [the product’s] use of ABC plastic. If anyone knows what that is, please let me know. I did a Google and Wiki search and couldn’t find it.

I hope that this press release was simply sloppily written without any intent of deceit. Sometimes, however, the terms “eco-friendly” and eco-smart” are bandied about without any basis of fact. That’s greenwash and it’s often deliberate. Your best defense is knowledge and a healthy dose of skepticism. Ask questions, lots of questions.