Social Impact Accreditation

These are products supplied with a specific socially focused related claim, verification, approval, listing, certification, attestation, or accreditation from an independent party. The certification or accreditation may indicate the producer, supplier, or product meets certain standards which enable social impact to be realized in a material's production.  *

Bio-based and/or Natural Products
 

This sustainability characteristic seeks to provide customers with important information regarding the feedstocks and processing methods used to create each product. To be considered bio-based, a product must contain ≥25% bio-based feedstocks by mass. Similarly, to be considered natural a product must contain ≥25% natural content, which is derived from natural feedstocks and processed minimally using methods outlined by ISO 16128:1-2016. Please note that here, “natural” does not refer to specific regulatory language such as that defined by TSCA or REACH, nor does it include ingredients from fossil-based feedstocks. *

Carbon Footprinting

Carbon footprinting is considered a “Sustainability Characteristic,” for the purposes of this framework, when there is a life cycle assessment (LCA) or product carbon footprint (PCF) calculation data, that shows a ≥10% reduction vs a conventional fossil-based product. Ideally, it will be verified or audited by an accredited third party, but this is not a requirement for inclusion.  

If a PCF or LCA does not show a ≥10% reduction, we will utilize this data in different ways, i.e., for support in providing customers with PCFs, for scope 3 mapping, etc. When providing PCF figures to customers, we may need to work under NDA. *

Safer Substitutes

Safer Substitutes are materials which offer comparable performance in application to a relevant conventional material but with the benefit of reduced human health and/or environmental hazards. For the Sustainable & Natural Product Framework, we define a safer substitute in a practical and data-based manner, acknowledging that all substances, including safer substances may carry some risk upon exposure. 

Chemical substitution is technically challenging, and we encourage customers to do their own testing and research to determine that the substitution is right for their needs. *

Circular Materials

Circular materials support the principles of a circular economy through responsible capture and reuse.  

Products meeting this characteristic are produced from the recovery and reprocessing of wastes or residues. This can apply to the reuse of wastes and processing residues and can include pre-consumer and post-consumer waste. *

Environmental Accreditation

Products with this sustainability characteristic have a specific environmental–related claim, verification, approval, listing, certification, attestation, or accreditation from an independent party. The accreditation must be at the level of the product and not the company. Third-party accreditations are considered environmental when they address criteria aligned with delivering environmental benefits such as reduced land use, water and waste impact reduction, biodegradability, or regenerative practices of production.  *