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.

Partner Webcast Series, Fourth of 4
Recorded Tues, Oct 13 | 2pm ET/11am PT

Join Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds Founder & CEO, Annie Bevan, Certification & Operations Manager at Green Circle and Mark Rossi, Interim Executive Director at Clean Production Action to learn about the differences and benefits of the material health evaluation programs and how the Manufacturer Inventory and Green Circle Certified LEED v4 compliant certification can help manufacturers meet their material transparency needs.

Learn about each program's differences and benefits and how assessment results can:

• Help make better PRODUCT design decisions
• Help make better PROJECT design decisions
• Be used to create an MHO to transform disclosure into brand value by integrating product transparency into product marketing and value by integrating product transparency into product marketing

The webinar will also help you to:

Partner Webcast Series, First of 4
Recorded Thur, Sept 24 | 2pm ET/11am PT

Join Terry Swack, Sustainable Minds Founder & CEO and Wendy Vittori, HPDC Executive Director to learn about the differences and benefits of the material health evaluation programs and how HPD results can:

• Help manufacturers make better PRODUCT design decisions
• Help AEC professionals make better PROJECT design decisions
• Be used to create a Material Health Overview to transform disclosure into brand value by integrating product transparency into product marketing.

Sustainable Minds, the first cloud software provider and program operator to focus on simplified and understandable environmental reporting, has introduced the SM Material Health Overview (MHO) — the next in its suite of Transparency Products.

Company Continues to Set the Standard for Plumbing Product Transparency and Material Health Evaluation

MORROW, Ga., Sept. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Committed to transparency in the manufacture of products that contribute to a healthy, sustainable environment, TOTO announced today that it has achieved another plumbing industry first by offering material health evaluations for an initial six high-efficiency toilets (HETs). TOTO is now the only plumbing manufacturer whose products have earned the International Living Future Institute's (IFLI) Declare label and are listed in the Declare Products Database.

Declare Labels
Often compared to the nutritional labeling found on packaged food, Declare labels focus on specific information important to consumers and building industry professionals by offering a transparent platform for the disclosure of materials, chemicals and elements known to pose risks to human health or the environment. After a thorough investigation of their constituent materials, TOTO's initial six HETs have been listed in the Declare database as Living Building Challenge Compliant or "declared."