Need-to-Knows: Building Materials Edition

Are you a building material manufacturer? If you are, you've come to the right place! In this article we will provide you with the most important information we've learned first-hand through helping other building material manufacturers. We aim to equip you with the necessary details you need to know as you're getting started with your compliance and sustainability journey.

Compliance Regulations for Building Material Manufacturers

• CA Prop 65 – If you are selling your product anywhere in the state of California, this regulation applies to you
• Conflict Minerals – Are you using gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten anywhere in your supply chain? If so, you'll undoubtedly want to collect supply chain data to ensure ethical sourcing and conflict mineral compliance
• REACH & SCIP – Importing your products into the EU? If so, these regulations apply to you
• RoHS – If your products contain any electronic components, this regulation should be on your radar
• TSCA – If your building materials is manufactured, processed, distributed, or disposed of in the U.S., compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) an important requirement

Sustainability Reports for Building Material Manufacturers

• Health Product Declaration (HPD) – HPDs are a self-declared report containing a product's ingredients in order to be screened against priority hazard lists. HPDs can also be used for green building certification through LEED or WELL, relevant for nearly everyone in the building industry
• Declare Label – Declare labels are also self-declared ingredient reports, commonly referred to as the nutrition labels for products, with the intention of communicating product transparency. Additionally, Declare Labels Certified products can often be used for Living Building Challenge projects, as well as LEED and WELL certifications
• LEED v4 –  LEED is a green building certification system run by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED v4 focuses especially on materials, making it relevant to manufacturers in the building industry.

Digital Product Passports (DPP) – While DPPs are not yet required, changes making them required are anticipated in the next couple of years. DPPs on the 3E Exchange are a great way to communicate all of the above information to your customers on one platform.

Tips & Need-to-Knows

Other tips and need-to-knows that might be helpful to you as you're starting your journey and getting familiar with the 3E Exchange Platform:

• You may be starting with very little to no bill of material (BOM) data. The first step is collecting a components list and your supplier contact information. Your components list needs to be comprehensive, including all parts that make up your final product. Your supplier contact information will ideally include an email address for primary communication and a phone number as backup.
• In order to pursue any of the above-mentioned compliance regulations or sustainability reports, full material disclosure (FMD) down to 100 ppm (at least) is necessary in order to fulfill the requirements.
• As a manufacturer in the building materials space, it's likely that you source parts from other industries (i.e. plastics, electronics, textiles, etc) which can be time-consuming, depending on the component complexity and makeup. For this reason, supplier surveying and data collection will likely be the most demanding part of your compliance and sustainability journey.
• Product compliance and sustainability reporting are largely dependent on what your final product contains (i.e. conflict minerals, electrical components, etc.) and what markets you are selling into (i.e. the EU, the US, etc.). Go into this process understanding that each product/product line may have different requirements that require careful attention.
• In pursuing your sustainability reporting (i.e. Declare Labels and HPDs), understand that you often have the option to report on a representative product – a single product BOM that represents a variation of a product or a product line. In this case, you will want to be familiar with composite and alternatives functionality in 3E Exchange.

3E Exchange is no stranger to helping manufacturers in the building industry. Customers like Assa Abloy and Saint Gobain are long-time users with a multitude of sustainability and compliance successes. We understand that every sustainability journey looks different, but we are committed to helping you reach your goals regardless. Using the resources and tips outlined here, you can be well on your way to meeting your compliance and reporting commitments!