Perspectives on greener product development and manufacturing from Sustainable Minds, our partners, customers and contributors.

Marketing

Avitru & Sustainable Minds Mainstream Product Transparency

By Sustainable Minds on January 10, 2018

Avitru and Sustainable Minds are making it easier for architects and engineers to find, understand, select and specify products to construct higher-performing, greener & healthier buildings.

Announced at Greenbuild 2017, and generally available during the first half of 2018, this partnership connects Avitru and Sustainable Minds so architects, engineers and contractors (AECs) can access the information they need – in one place.

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Certifications & labeling, In the press, Marketing

Knauf Insulation North America Partners with Sustainable Minds to Make Product Transparency Understandable and Actionable

By Sustainable Minds on November 12, 2017

Knauf Insulation North America is the first fiberglass insulation manufacturer to provide comprehensive environmental and material disclosures all in one place with Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports and Material Health Overviews

Shelbyville, Ind. (November 9, 2017) – Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) is simplifying the process of researching and specifying building products that meet today’s most stringent green building rating systems through an innovative partnership with Sustainable Minds (SM).

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Certifications & labeling, In the press, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Products

CUSTOMER STORY WEBCAST SERIES: Transparency is the New Green, Part 4: Valspar & Inpro

By Sustainable Minds on July 13, 2017

Webinar recorded Tues, July 11 @ 2pm ET

Welcome to our customer webcast series featuring building product manufacturers making credibly greener & healthier products. Learn how they are working to understand and improve the environmental performance and material health of their products.

Visit their SM Transparency Catalog listings:

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Marketing, Products, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

SM Transparency Catalog DEMO: The Educational Marketing Platform for Product Transparency

By Sustainable Minds on June 30, 2017

Find, understand, learn, share, reward...change.

NEW release! 500+ brands, 1000s of products and growing.

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Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Standards & regulations, Supply chain, Webcast

Winter 2017 | Business Insights – Sustainable Minds – From hurdle to marketing tool, making money with product transparency

By Sustainable Minds on March 21, 2017

We invite you to join SM CEO Terry Swack to discuss: The business case for integrating product transparency into product marketing

The Business Insights article in US Builders Review this month tells the story of Sustainable Minds Transparency Products and the business case for integrating product transparency into product marketing.

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In the press, Marketing, Products, Webcast

SM Transparency Products: ‘Business Insights’ featured article US Builders Review, Winter 2017

By Sustainable Minds on February 21, 2017

From hurdle to marketing tool, making money with product transparency

With 450-plus brands — representing hundreds of categories and thousands of products — the SM Transparency Catalog™ brings together all manufacturers who have made the commitment to product transparency. Most importantly, it presents their information in a well-designed, simple and standardized way, making it easy for green building professionals to find credibly greener and healthier products to meet rating system requirements and build higher performing buildings.

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In the press, Marketing

Introducing the North American PCR Catalog, v1.0

By Sustainable Minds on August 18, 2016

Take a look! Is there an expiring PCR in your industry or one you’d like to create?

Sustainable Minds created the North American PCR Catalog for 2 reasons:

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Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing

Partner webcast series: Health Product Declarations – Specification Strategies and Marketing Opportunities

By Sustainable Minds on March 28, 2016

Recorded Wed, March 23, 2pm ET/11am PT

Donovan Hardenbrook, Director, Health Product Declaration® Collaborative
Tara Blank, Ph.D., Principal, Elixir Environmental
Terry Swack, CEO, Sustainable Minds

Reporting product material health is becoming increasingly essential to AEC professionals. If your company isn’t ready, your products may not get specified or even considered for projects.

LEED v4 encourages manufacturers to disclose the material contents and related health hazards of their products. The Health Product Declaration (HPD) can be used to earn LEED points. However, manufacturers are challenged to produce these disclosures and AEC professionals are challenged to understand what the information means.

On this webcast: Don will provide an organizational update on the HPD Collaborative and share the latest info on the HPD Open Standard, Builder 2.0 Library and Builder API.

Tara will explain each section of the HPD version 2.0 report and then provide specification strategies to help your company succeed in the marketplace.

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Innovation, Marketing, Webcast

SM named Smart Innovator in Verdantix Product Stewardship Solutions report

By Sustainable Minds on January 17, 2016

Sustainable Minds was featured as a provider of voluntary product stewardship solutions (vs. compliance-based solutions) along with 7 other companies including industry staples PRé Sustainability, Quantis International and thinkstep.

Verdantix defines a product stewardship solution as: “Software and services that enable firms to identify, report, manage and minimize the negative environmental, health and safety impacts associated with the manufacture, composition, distribution, use and disposal of a physical product for the purpose of meeting compliance requirements and supporting voluntary action.”

They further define voluntary product stewardship as focusing mainly on LCA and ecodesign, which are necessary to long-term global sustainability. Verdantix finds the solutions in this space tackle challenges including:

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Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, In the press, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Marketing, Standards & regulations

First Program Operator Consortium Launched for Environmental Product Declarations Market at Greenbuild 2015

By Sustainable Minds on November 17, 2015

WASHINGTON, November 17, 2015 — On Wednesday, four key green-building stakeholder organizations (ASTM International, ICC Evaluation Service, NSF International and Sustainable Minds) will launch the first Program Operator Consortium in the industry. The signing will take place at Greenbuild 2015 at the ASTM International booth (#3313) at 10:30 a.m.

The consortium will serve as an expert resource and advocate for creating product category rules (PCRs), reviewing life cycle assessment (LCA) reports, and verifying and publishing environmental product declarations (EPDs). The consortium members will pool resources, leverage existing relationships, jointly conduct outreach, marketing, education and communications, and promote the overall use of PCRs, LCAs and EPDs in the marketplace.

Manufacturers, design professionals and others will begin to see co-branded, verified EPDs from the consortium members, providing value to decision makers when specifying materials and products while helping manufacturers gain greater visibility for their product transparency work.

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Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, In the press, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Standards & regulations