HPD Versus The Declare Label: Why Should Building Product Manufacturers Care?

Posted by: GreenCE Sustainable Design and Construction // Sustainable Content Creator at GreenCE

Should a building product manufacturer develop a Health Product Declaration (HPD) or a Declare Label? Both product disclosures are excellent tools but differ in complexity, cost, and potential ROI. There are other excellent sustainability documentation tools available such as Cradle to Cradle, BIFMA, and ANSI resources to meet Materials Ingredients credits. However, our focus today is on HPDs and Declare Labels...

There are many LEED v4-compliant HPDs available, but many more HPDs that are not compliant. In fact, a significant number of published HPDs currently do not qualify for the LEED v4 MR credit for various reasons. Manufacturers may make mistakes when developing their HPDs because they are not fully aware of their product’s chemical inventory, not familiar with the HPDC Open Standard, or don’t completely understand the LEED v4 requirements.

Manufacturers may encounter the following issues with HPDs:

1. The HPD doesn’t meet the LEED v4 disclosure thresholds. The chemical inventory of the product must be characterized and screened to at least 0.1% (1000 ppm). Many non-compliant HPDs use information solely from Safety Data Sheets, which only disclose chemicals to 10,000 ppm. An HPD is only as good as the data available, and sometimes manufacturers are at the mercy of their suppliers.

2. The HPD wasn’t developed in accordance with the HPD Open Standard. The HPD Standard has various requirements for what constitutes a “complete” HPD. The LEED v4 MR credit specifically requires that the HPD be in compliance with the HPD Open Standard.

3. Many manufacturers simply don’t have the time, resources, or scientific background to appropriately develop HPDs for their products.

Find out more about The Declare Label and HPDs by reading the rest of this post, found here:

https://www.greence.com/Spec_Shaman/HPD-Versus-Declare-Label-Why