Certifications

GreenShield is committed to progressive environmental practices. Third party certifications assist in reducing the use of misleading information regarding environmental attributes of products commonly referred to as “Greenwashing.” There is growing momentum towards increased transparency in green product labels and the third-party certification landscape is shifting.

GreenShield had been third-party certified by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) as a Low Fluorocarbon Treatment product and as an Indoor Advantage Gold product (zero VOCs). The fluorine content of fabric treated with GreenShield was measured by two independent third-party laboratories, Galbraith Laboratories, Inc. and Schwarzkopf Microanalytical Laboratories. When compared to competitive products GreenShield exhibits 5-10 times lower fluorine (see GreenShield Fluorine and Repellency Data, https://greenshieldfinish.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GreenShield-fluorine-and-repellancy-data.pdf ). This third-party evaluation goes beyond the currently available certifications.

With changes to third party certification programs, additional certifications are currently being evaluated. The increasing demand for simplicity, transparency, and accountability has broadened the scope of green product rating systems. However, the impact of the finish on a fabric is very small and often not even considered in the available certifications. GreenShield is undertaking the task of determining which third-party certifications and labeling systems will be most helpful and meaningful to our customers.

Not only are the most popular and better-known product certification programs, such as LEED and C2C becoming increasingly rigorous, other certification programs have entered the commercial building industry. The Living Building Challenge certification goes several steps beyond LEED and has launched Declare, a building products transparency label. The International WELL Building Institute offers the WELL Building Standard™ certification program promoting health and wellness for buildings and interior spaces. GreenShield will be investigating the details of these programs and how the reduced levels of fluorochemicals in GreenShield might comply.
FACTS® (NSF/ANSI 336) assesses the level of sustainability of commercial fabrics developed by the Association for Contract Textiles. Fabrics with GreenShield have achieved certification at different compliance levels.
GreenShield is also looking at other emerging environmental product programs such as the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) and the Health Product Declaration (HPD) Collaborative. Both of these programs are product content and healthcare safety oriented and can be used as disclosure tools, but are not third-party product certifications.

We welcome comments and feedback from customers regarding their needs for third party certifications. Contact Us

MBDC Product Benchmarking

G3i GreenShield Benchmarking Certificate – Download PDF