InPro Corp., a manufacturer of door and wall protection products, has created Environmental and Health Product Declarations (EPDs and HPDs), which are standardized documents that reveal the environmental and health impacts of the company’s products and processes. InPro has partnered with Underwriters Laboratories and PE International to create an online library of these standardized documents, which will help designers and architects create healthier and more sustainable buildings.
“It’s clear from the architects’ demand for EPDs and HPDs that they’re the best way to be transparent about our products and processes,” says Amanda Goetsch, Environmental Sustainability Manager at InPro. “The building protection products industry has been waiting for a leader to emerge to pave the way for everybody else. We’re rising to meet this challenge and showing the industry that full transparency is a beautiful thing.”
EPDs and HPDs are the benchmark documents for the design community and will add fuel to the green building industry’s growth, which is currently projected at 20 percent annually. In LEED version 4, construction projects that use at least 20 building products that have issued EPDs and/or HPDs may be awarded points under the Materials and Resources: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credit.
HPDs reveal the potential human health hazards associated with the chemicals and elements used to produce building protection products. This data will help architects, designers and building owners make better-informed choices. In addition, HPDs provide baselines and benchmarks for InPro to improve its products and pursue innovative alternatives.
EPDs help document the current environmental impact of InPro’s end products so specifiers can make more educated purchasing decisions. InPro’s EPDs deliver on the designers’ goal of life-cycle assessment. These transparency documents also empower InPro to improve its manufacturing and corporate processes to lessen this impact in the future. Through information gathered in these documents, the company will be able to pinpoint opportunities to increase the sustainability of its entire production process and make strategic improvements over time.
“The information provided through these documents provides a gauge for improving the way our processes and products impact people and the planet,” said Goetsch, “In addition, transparency documentation acts as a tool in achieving our core goal of continuously improving our relationship with the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit.”
These documents have been made available for a majority of InPro’s IPC door and wall protection products since November 18, 2013. Transparency documents will be published for InPro’s remaining products as they are completed. All of these documents and more information on InPro’s sustainability practices may be found on the InPro website, www.inprocorp.com under the Sustainability section.