NeoCon Exhibitors Announced Living Product Certifications

CHICAGO,  June 13, 2018 /3BLMedia/ - Five different manufacturers are celebrating 10 Living Product certifications at NeoCon 2018, bringing the total number of Living Product certifications to 20. The Living Product Challenge (LPC) was launched in 2014 by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) to inspire manufacturers to pursue ambitious goals to dematerialize and detoxify their products and ultimately go beyond doing ‘less bad’ to create positive health and environmental impacts.   “Commercial interior manufacturers are rising to meet the high bar of the Living Product Challenge, reimagining their products with regenerative design in mind,” said James Connelly, LFA, LEED AP, Vice President of Products and Strategic Growth for ILFI. “These first movers are helping to scale a movement for commercial interiors that will transform the way we think about interior design and its impact on health and wellbeing.”   The full list of Living Product Challenge certified products, as well as background on the program, can be found at the Living Future website.   ILFI has certified the following Living Products for Commercial Interiors:   Mohawk Group Mohawk is following up on its widely celebrated Living Product Petal Certification last year for the Lichen Collection of carpet tile with five new Petal Certifications for a mix of soft and hard surface products, all of which reflect the incorporation of biophilic design, a growing commitment that the company is making to bring the benefits of nature indoors:

• Nutopia Collection: Nylon Modular Carpet on EcoFlex Matrix Backing (PETAL CERT: Water)
• The Sunweave Collection: Woven Broadloom Carpet (PETAL CERT: Water, Energy)
• The Sunweave Collection: Woven Broadloom Rug (PETAL CERT: Water, Energy)
• The Nutopia Collection: Nylon Modular Carpet on EcoFlex NXT Backing (PETAL CERT: Water)
• The Pivot Point Collection: Enhanced Resilient Tile (PETAL CERT: Energy)

Mohawk has been a pioneering force for the concept of Handprinting -- measuring the positive impacts that they make while they lower their carbon footprint.   “With these new products, Mohawk is scaling their positive impact by growing the program they introduced last year to donate water-efficient showerheads to colleges and universities with outdated facilities,” said James.  This year, Mohawk donated 152 low-flow showerheads to Hampton University, and through a partnership with the 503(c)(3) non profit, Groundswell, Mohawk has also committed to the installation of 10 Solar Flowers (confirm) in 10 cities around the U.S.—starting in the company's headquarters in Eden, NC.
  Tarkett In its first foray into the Living Product Challenge, Tarkett has undertaken LPC for two products that the company says were already on a path to optimization under Cradle to Cradle, demonstrating that the LPC  builds upon other certifications programs when manufacturers want to push the envelope even further towards regenerative design and create positive impact.

• Tandus Centiva Ethos® Modular Carpet: IMPERATIVE Certified
• Johnsonite Rubber Tile: IMPERATIVE Certified

“We are continuously challenging the status quo at the plant, R&D and business levels, and we approached our first Living Product Challenge with two very different products -- resilient and soft surface -- that both constitute a significant part of our business and both have unique stories from a sustainability perspective,” said Dhruv Raina, product stewardship director for Tarkett. “The Ethos Modular Carpet tile and all of our soft surface products sold in North America have moved to a non-fluorine based anti-soil chemistry, rapidly. The rubber tile product (the Pentagonals collection)  has been on the path to optimization as well, with inclusion of a mineral-based flame retardant.” Tarkett has achieved the Water Petal for rubber tile product manufactured by Johnsonite, and showcased by the Pentagonals collection launching at Neocon.   This now requires Tarkett to achieve a Handprint greater than the three-year cradle-to-gate water footprint for the product by 2021. To do so, Tarkett is investing in EarthEnable, which develops sanitary earthen floors in homes in Rwanda -- reducing healthcare costs, curbing carbon emissions and strengthening rural economies.   Crossville Crossville Tile earned Water Petal Certification for Retro Active 2.0 Tile, the first LPC ceramic tile product.   “Tile is one of the most ancient industries on the planet, and is sourced from naturally occurring materials, creating a long-lasting product that can be reused at the end of life through a basic grinding and recovery process,” said Noah Chitty, director of technical services at Crossville.   RetroActive 2.0 was certified Net Positive for water through the company’s EcoCycle Water Recovery and Recycling Process, which creates a water handprint that exceeds the footprint. The RetroActive 2.0 product also supports the local economy via the eight core suppliers who represent 95% of all the raw materials acquired by Crossville, and that share their passion for environment, good design, and minimization of impacts. All suppliers are located within 200 miles of Crossville’s manufacturing location in Crossville, Tennessee.   The product also uses more waste in its life cycle than it creates. For every pound of waste generated, Crossville actually reuses 42 pounds of recovered materials including waste from its extended producer responsibility program, Tile-Take-Back and a partnership with Toto to recycle porcelain toilets into Crossville Tile.   Shannon Specialty Floors/Metroflor Metroflor and Shannon Specialty Floors have earned Materials Petal Certification with the first ever LPC Petal Certified resilient flooring product, TEKNOFLOR® Naturescapes HPD™   Teknoflor Naturescapes HPD is working to become Net Positive for carbon by replacing petroleum-based oil inputs with naturally grown castor oils with a much lower environmental footprint. The pursuit of Living Product Challenge also inspired the company to create positive impact with support of the Wildlife Trust of India’s human elephant conflict mitigation project in Assam, India, a region that produces significant volumes of the castor oil plant.
  Plant Solutions The beautiful and biophilic MossWallArt™ Moss Wall Art from Plant Solutions has earned Petal certification for the Water Petal. CEO Joe Zazzera is a biophilic design consultant and well-known advocate and speaker for nature-inspired design. His moss walls range from a simple hanging piece to full walls which can be integrated into any project to infuse nature into the indoor environment. Even though Plant Solutions is a bio-based, handcrafted product, achieving LPC was not easy. The company had to switch out a number of materials to get the ingredient disclosure required, including swapping in two Declare materials and receiving FSC CoC certification for the facility.   About the Living Product Challenge The Living Product Challenge re-imagines the design and construction of products to function as elegantly and efficiently as anything found in the natural world. Manufacturers are using the Living Product Challenge framework to rethink the way products are made. Instead of trying to be “less bad,” they are manufacturing goods that have a positive impact on human’s and the environment.   About International Living Future Institute The International Living Future Institute is a hub for visionary programs. The Institute offers global strategies for lasting sustainability, partnering with local communities to create grounded and relevant solutions, including green building and infrastructure solutions on scales ranging from single room renovations to neighborhoods or whole cities.  The Institute administers the Living Building Challenge, the environment’s most rigorous and ambitious performance standard.. It is also home to Ecotone Publishing, a unique publishing house dedicated to telling the story of the green building movement's pioneering thinkers and practitioners.
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