Glossary
Post-Consumer
Post-consumer material is an end product that has completed its life cycle as a consumer item. Post-consumer materials include recyclables collected in commercial and residential recycling programs, such as office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastics and metals, glass, mirrors, and porcelain. It is simply the garbage that individuals routinely discard in a waste receptacle that without recycling would otherwise end up as landfill. Post-consumer recycled materials have served their intended use, been collected from the end-user, and reprocessed as something new.
Post-Industrial
By contrast, post-industrial material is derived from manufacturing waste or sub-standard products that have not been used. This material is collected, recycled and used in the creation of a product other than that for which it was originally harvested. Post-industrial material comes from factories and manufacturing processes and can include many forms of plastic, glass, and metal. For example, broken and flawed glass discarded in the production of car windscreens.
Cradle to Cradle
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is a third-party certification that provides a company with a means to tangibly, credibly measure achievement in environmentally-intelligent design and helps educate customers on ECO™ by Cosentino-friendly products. All C2C products are made from non-toxic materials that, at the end of their life, are taken apart and either turned into raw materials for new products or returned to the earth as compost. These products are manufactured using renewable energy and marketed with socially responsible strategies. For example, a towel made of organic cotton which can be recycled or is biodegradable is a C2C product.
LEED
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a third-party certification program created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. Building and design projects can receive a LEED rating for performance in five key areas, including: human and environmental health; sustainable site development; water savings; energy efficiency; materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
GREENGUARD Certification
The goal of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) is to improve indoor air quality by testing a product's chemical emissions. GREENGUARD has three third-party certification programs including GREENGUARD Indoor Air quality, GREENGUARD Children & Schools, and the GREENGUARD Building Construction certification. GREENGUARD's Children & School Certification is GREENGUARD's strictest standard for measuring chemical emissions, certifying that the product has been screened for more than 10,000 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), phthalates, formaldehyde, aldehydes and other particles. Elevated levels of VOCs have proven to contribute to health issues ranging from asthma to neurological and respiratory disease. Products with GREENGUARD certification have shown a significant reduction of chemical emission from their products.
