Manufacturers Commit to Green Chemistry

PVC is one of the chemicals the companies hope to eliminate.

by Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 11/21/2006

During Greenbuild last week, Forbo Flooring, Milliken & Company, Shaw Industries, and Arden Architectural Specialties announced plans to phase out harmful chemistries in their products, in order to insure healthy building environments. To meet this challenge, the four manufacturers have teamed up with the Healthy Building Network (HBN).

At Greenbuild—the largest sustainable building and construction tradeshow in the U.S.—HBN presented a panel composed of three influential green chemists: Dr. Paul Anastas, Director of the Green Chemistry Institute; Dr. John Warner, director of the Center for Green Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts; and Professor Terry Collins, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry for Green Chemistry: The Next Plateau for Green Building Materials. The panel is part of the organization’s efforts to educate the design and manufacturing industries on green chemistry.

“Green chemistry represents the foundation of the next generation of green building materials,” says Bill Walsh, founder of Healthy Building Network. “The companies gathered have applied green chemistry principles to address practical green building challenges, such as the phase out of PVC and other harmful chemistries within their industries.”

HBN, a national network of green building professionals, environmental and health activists, socially responsible investment advocates, and others, is dedicated to promoting healthier building materials as a means of improving public health and preserving the global environment.