NSF 140 to be used to evaluate carpet in commercial & institutional applications

10 Mar '09

2 min read

A guidebook to help manufacturers through the complicated certification process for the NSF/ANSI 140- 2007 Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard has been released for widespread use. Published by NSF International, the private, not-for-profit, standards development and product certification organization, the guidebook is designed to make it easier to use NSF 140 and to establish consistency in the data collection and documentation required for certification.

According to NSF International, the guidance manual complements the Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard by providing "useful test methods, processes, and other tools in order to report comprehensive, accurate and meaningful information about the environmental performance and social contribution of products and performance throughout the supply chain."

The NSF/ANSI 140-2007 standard applies to all broadloom and tile carpet floor coverings, and is intended to be used to evaluate carpet in commercial and institutional applications. Carpets certified under NSF 140 contribute towards building project totals under the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System in several categories, including innovation.

Initiated by the Carpet and Rug Institute, the standard was developed by the NSF Joint Committee for Sustainable Carpet, a multidisciplinary consortium of stakeholders from business, academia, environmental interests and government regulators.

The guidebook helps carpet manufacturers measure their conformance in the areas of environmental and social responsibility, quality control and record keeping, public health and the environment, energy use, manufacturing processes, reclamation and end of life management, and innovation. An appendix document offers a Target Achievement Level Scorecard so manufacturers can evaluate whether they are on target for gold, silver, or bronze-level certification.

"We envisioned the Guidance Manual as a resource for manufacturers seeking to enter the certification arena. The final draft of the document is extremely well done, and I think will prove to be even more valuable than we originally expected," said Carpet and Rug Institute Vice- president and COO Frank Hurd.

The 71-page NSF 140 Guidance Manual was prepared by the Guidance Manual Task Group of the NSF Joint Committee for Sustainable Carpet.

To access the complete guidebook document

Carpet and Rug Institute

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