GECA Certification – Floor Coverings

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[speaker introduces topic]

Is sustainability an important guiding principle that influences the spaces you create?  If the answer is YES, there is a high chance you will already understand the importance of GECA certification in Australia…and its ability to guide professionals towards environmentally sustainable products.   

In this video, we’d like to focus specifically on the factors that affect the sustainability of floor coverings. 

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[speaker covers factors that influence the environmental status of floor coverings] 

Factors that influence the environmental status of floor coverings include…

1. What raw materials were used to manufacture the flooring?

2. Have surface treatments been applied to the flooring and what is the environmental impact of the treatments?

3. Also, think about the necessary adhesives and their environmental impact.

4. How much energy was used during the manufacture of the flooring?

5. …and the final consideration in this list relates to VOC content.

Not only do these factors determine the environmental impact of the flooring during its lifetime, they also have an impact on the surrounding air quality. 

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[speaker addresses necessary criteria to meet strict environmental standards] 

In order to meet strict environmental standards, floor coverings should:

1. Be easy to recycle.

2. The flooring should contain a certain percentage of recycled or renewable materials.

3. In addition, the manufacturing process should minimize waste generation and resource consumption.

4. Production of the floor covering should avoid the illegal harvesting of natural materials.

5 … and, also important is the adherence to pesticide restrictions.

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[speaker lists considerations for human health] 

In terms of human health, floor coverings should:

1. Minimize volatile organic compounds or VOCs.
   2. Limit heavy metals.
   3. Contain no known carcinogens.

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[speaker lists social considerations]

Now let’s look at the social considerations.  To meet strict environmental standards, it’s important that during the production of floor coverings, ethics are upheld in relation to workers’ pay and conditions.  It’s also important that there is no green washing associated with the product, which could potentially mis-lead the consumer.

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[speaker explains why GECA certification reduces the workload required to identify sustainable floor coverings]

Attempting to identify environmentally and socially preferable flooring products against such an extensive list of criteria, can prove to be a laborious task for architects, specifiers and designers, especially when specifying for green star projects, or generally just striving for high levels of sustainability in their projects…

..doubt can be removed by sourcing products that have already been assessed against relevant environmental, human health and ethical standards.

GECA certification represents a trusted seal-of-approval recognised Australia-wide.  GECA stands for Good Environmental Choice Australia.

In other words, GECA certification makes the identification of suitable floor coverings, a much simpler process.

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[speaker reviews GECA certified REGUPOL floor coverings and their suitability for Green Star Rated Projects]

A GECA certified flooring that contains high levels of secondary raw material is REGUPOL everroll commercial and gym flooring.

GECA certification automatically accredits REGUPOL everroll flooring with a level A sustainability rating of 100% within the Green Star Sustainable Products Calculator…making REGUPOL everroll ideal for projects in pursuit of a 5-star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. 

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[speaker concludes]

For more information about REGUPOL everroll flooring, or any of our other sustainable products, please visit our website at www.abswest.com.au. Alternatively, please contact a member of our sales team if you have any questions.

Thanks for watching.

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END OF VIDEO