The higher standard for indoor air quality

Today, indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important environmental consideration, especially since we spend approximately 90 percent of our time indoors. In 1992, CRI launched its Green Label program to test carpet, cushions and adhesives to help specifiers identify products with very low emissions of VOCs. CRI has recently launched its next series of improvements called Green Label Plus for carpet and adhesives. This enhanced program sets an even higher standard for IAQ and ensures that customers are purchasing the very lowest emitting products on the market. Using scientifically established standards, the Green Label Plus program symbolizes the carpet industry’s commitment to a better environment for living, working, learning and healing.

Quick facts

Green Label and Green Label Plus ensure that customers are purchasing among the lowest emitting carpet, adhesive and cushion products on the market.CRI designed the Green Label and Green Label Plus programs for architects, builders, specifiers and facility mangers who want assurances that carpet and adhesive products meet the most stringent criteria for low chemical emissions. Green Label Plus represents the fourth time the carpet industry has voluntarily enhanced the IAQ standard for its products.

Green Label Plus measures up

Green Label Plus is an example of CRI’s leadership in the best practices of environmental responsibility. Look for the CRI Green Label Plus logo as proof that the product has been tested and certified by an independent laboratory and has met stringent criteria for low emissions.Air Quality Sciences, an independent laboratory, tests carpet and adhesive samples using the most up-to-date, dynamic environmental chamber technology. The test methodology was developed in cooperation with the U.S. EPA and has been adopted by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) as D5116-97 - Standard Guide for Small-Scale Environmental Chamber Determinations of Organic Emissions from Indoor Materials/Products. Cushions, currently tested under the Green Label program, will soon undergo more rigorous testing standards under the Green Label Plus program.

Exceeding industry standards: California CHPS criteria

California’s Indoor Air Quality Program and the Sustainable Building Task Force approved Green Label Plus certification in lieu of Section 01350. In fact, the CRI Green Label Plus program meets and exceeds the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) testing protocols. CHPS is a consortium of public agencies and California utilities that has identified low-emitting materials criteria for use in schools. A school that specifies and installs the materials qualifies for points under Indoor Environmental Quality Credit 2: Low-Emitting Materials.

• Working in cooperation with California’s Sustainable Building Task Force and the Department of Health Services, Indoor Air Quality Section, the carpet industry voluntarily enhanced its Green Label program for carpet and adhesives to meet testing protocols used by CHPS.
• Under the agreement between CRI and the California agencies, Green Label Plus is acceptable in lieu of Section 01350, the CHPS low-emitting materials criteria for use in schools.
• Commercial carpet and adhesives that meet the criteria for Green Label Plus are searchable on the top right of the screen and are listed on the CHPS Web site.
• Green Label Plus expands on Section 01350 in several respects, including testing annually for the specific chemicals, testing for six additional chemicals, maintaining a chain of custody process and performing an annual audit of the testing laboratory.

Green Label merges with Seal of Approval for vacuum certification

CRI’s Green Label vacuum certification program is now merging with CRI’s Seal of Approval program to combine the stringent standards of carpet cleaning effectiveness and indoor air quality into one program.

The Carpet and Rug Institute, headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, is the national trade association for the carpet and rug industry. CRI is the source for information and insight, based on scientific research and technology, into how carpet and rugs can create a better environment - for living, working, learning and healing. Its members are manufacturers and suppliers providing more than 90% of all carpet produced in the United States. For more information visit, www.carpet-rug.org.