What You Need to Know About the Greenguard Gold Certification Program

Greenguard Environmental Institute

Making sure that you create a healthy environment for children and students is one of the most important responsibilities of a school’s facility manager. One way that you can ensure the safety of the students in your school is using materials that are Greenguard Gold certified.

But what exactly is the Greenguard Gold Certification Program and how can you make sure that your school lives up to the program’s standards?

To ensure that your students have a healthy learning environment, we’re here to help you learn what you need to know about the Greenguard Gold Certification Program. Continue reading to learn more.

What is the Greenguard Gold Certification Program?

This program ensures that manufacturers create products with low levels of chemical emissions to help ensure natural and healthy air quality. The Greenguard Gold Certification Program consists of the strictest air quality criteria to ensure that children in schools or daycares are being educated in a safe environment. The program is based on a product’s ability to address the following four criteria:

1. Body Burden Correction Factor: It’s proven that children inhale and exhale faster than adults do. Based on this, harmful emissions can affect a child faster than an adult. The Body Burden Correction Factor is used in Greenguard certification to make sure that indoor air quality has lower allowable emissions criteria.

2. Chronic Reference Exposure Levels: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are harmful to many individuals, especially younger children. To receive Greenguard Gold certification, manufacturers must show a dramatic decrease in VOC emissions to be sure that the air quality around a school is safe.

3. Limits on Phthalates: Phthalates are high-production volume chemicals that can have harmful effects on humans and children. The Environmental Protection Agency has accumulated test results that show exposure to phthalates through inhalation can result in reproductive and developmental disorders, asthma, and other allergies.

It’s imperative that schools stay free of these phthalates, and the Greenguard Gold Certification Program enforces strict limits on the emissions of total phthalates with a given product.

4. Emission Controls for Educational and Healthcare Environments

This standard of the Greenguard Gold Certification Program defines the low-emitting materials that are safe to use in places where children spend large amounts of time. Healthcare and educational environments need to include materials that are sensitive to the harm that dangerous emissions could create in these environments.

If you’re remodeling your school, it’s important to make sure that you use materials that satisfy the Greenguard Gold Certification Program.

Scranton Products uses HDPE plastic materials for locker and bathroom partition construction, which hold to the Greenguard Gold Certification Program.

To learn more about HDPE lockers and their benefits, click here to download our free eBook, The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Lockers. This eBook will explain why HDPE materials are superior to others and all they have to offer your facility.