Stone Sustainability Standard Moving Forward (August 13)

The NSC announced an agreement on Aug. 13 with Ecoform, a Knoxville-based environmental analysis firm, and NSF International, an accredited standards development organization in Ann Arbor, Mich., to develop a green benchmark for natural-stone products.

The standard is aimed at:

• Establishing a set of well-defined environmental and human health metrics recognized by the green building movement as an indicator of leadership in sustainability performance;

• Educating key members of the green building movement, government, and environmental advocacy groups about the production of stone products;

• Rewarding natural-stone companies for environmental leadership through commitment to sustainable operations and continued innovation;

• Taking on potential stone-related environmental and human health concerns (i.e., radon, dust) proactively in a participatory science based forum;

• Coordinating national and international environmental requirements for stone quarrying and production;

• Encouraging clear “chain-of-custody” material-tracking reporting in support of LEED® credits for locally produced materials; and

• Creating parity between stone and other competitive products covered by existing certification programs.

The NSC standard will be developed under the American National Standard Institute’s (ANSI) Essential Requirements for adoption as an ANSI Standard. NSF International will be administering the process for NSC.

The ANSI Standard development process ensures that the standard is developed in a balanced, open, and collaborative manner with participation from multiple stakeholders to avoid potential conflicts of interest. A consensus committee made up of public-agency officials, academics, non-governmental agencies, industry leaders, and product users will assist in development and then vote on the standard, while a group of subject matter experts provides insight and guidance.

Subsequent mandatory public comment periods allow individual stakeholders and organizations to participate in the development process.

The standard is expected to be completed in early spring of 2012.

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