TCNA Releases First-Ever, Industry-Wide Material Ingredient Guide

Tile Council of North America (TCNA) announced publication of its Material Ingredient Guide today at Coverings 2021.

This Material Ingredient Guide, the first of its kind by any building product industry, provides information about the material ingredients used industry-wide by North American tile, mortar, and grout manufacturers, provides in-depth health assessments of those materials, and is a resource for manufacturers to use when providing the content and chemical makeup of their products or “material ingredient transparency”.

In developing this guide, 17 manufacturers collaborated on the largest crowdfunded collection of GreenScreen Assessments® to date for the following two purposes: 1) Obtain GreenScreen® Benchmark Scores (listed within the guide) for the vast majority of material ingredients used by ceramic tile, mortar, and grout manufacturers, 2) Facilitate referencing these benchmark scores and associated GreenScreen Assessments® when developing Manufacturer Inventories (MI) and/or Health Product Declarations (HPD) that qualify for contribution to green and healthy building “optimization” credits.

“Product ingredient disclosure is in high demand,” stated Dan Marvin, Sr. Vice President of Operations for Ironrock and Chairman of TCNA’s Green Initiative Committee. “Through development of the Material Ingredient Guide, the tile industry is committed to thoroughness, consistency, and transparency in reporting information about the materials from which our products are made.”

Authored by Tennessee-based WAP Sustainability, they worked with dozens of organizations while creating this guide to bring clarity and structure to the complicated subject of material ingredient transparency. Resulting from TCNA’s and its members’ investment in disclosing industry-wide material ingredient information, suppliers and users of ceramic tile, mortar, and grout will have a more thorough and uniform understanding when specifying products in accordance with green and healthy building standards.

The following participating manufacturers contributed to this reporting:

• Ardex
• Arto Brick
• Bostik
• Crest
• Crossville, Inc.
• Custom Building Products
• Dal-Tile Corporation
• Florida Tile
• Florim USA
• Interceramic USA
• Ironrock
• Laticrete
• Porcelanite-Lamosa
• Portobello America
• Schluter Systems
• StonePeak Ceramics, Inc.
• American Wonder Porcelain

With a consistent, thorough, and transparent approach to material ingredient reporting and the compilation of referenceable GreenScreen Assessment® Benchmark scores on industry-wide materials, TCNA members aim to have the largest number of fully assessed material ingredient reports in the market. These fully assessed reports will make ceramic tile, mortar, and grout products eligible for contribution to LEED, WELL, and Living Building Challenge “optimization” credits. Never before has an industry provided this level of transparency, leading to an industry-wide spectrum of products becoming eligible for these optimization credits.

According to Bill Griese, TCNA’s Director of Standards Development and Sustainability Initiatives. “Following the Material Ingredient Guide’s suggested steps and referencing industry-wide GreenScreen Assessments® not only facilitates product compliance with green and healthy building certification programs, but also enhances brand trust with customers.”

TCNA’s Material Ingredient Guide initiative amplifies the North American ceramic tile industry’s unified message of health and environmental sustainability already well-established through initiatives such as industry-wide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Green Squared® product certification. As Wes Sullens, Director of LEED for the U.S. Green Building Council commented when the project was announced in 2020, “The result of this collaboration within the tile industry will push the market forward and spark even greater innovation and consideration for healthier indoor environments. This work provides the marketplace with key information needed by those pursuing LEED green building certification as they select products.”

Mark Rossi, Executive Director of the non-profit organization, Clean Production Action, and co-founder of GreenScreen®, praised the project from the onset: “We applaud the TCNA for demonstrating industry leadership in chemical and material health with their sector-wide approach to GreenScreen® Assessments. This is a model for how other industry sectors can effectively pool resources to compile GreenScreen® Benchmark scores of chemicals in their products and optimize products for material health.”

About Tile Council of North America (TCNA)

TCNA is a trade association representing manufacturers of ceramic tile, tile installation materials, tile equipment, raw materials and other tile-related products. Established in 1945 as the Tile Council of America (TCA), it became the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) in 2003, reflecting its membership expansion to all of North America.

The Tile Council is recognized for its leadership role in facilitating the development of North American and international industry quality standards to benefit tile consumers. Additionally, TCNA regularly conducts independent research and product testing, works with regulatory, trade, and other government agencies, and publishes installation guidelines, tile standards, economic reports, and promotional literature.

About WAP Sustainability Consulting

WAP Sustainability provides clients with the information and tools they need to create credible, measurable and attainable sustainability programs. Services are driven by sound scientific data and an in-depth understanding of each client’s core business. Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, WAP Sustainability has been helping a global roster of publicly traded, consumer product and building product companies as a sustainability resource for nearly 15 years. Learn more at www.wapsustainability.com.

About GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals and GreenScreen Certified™

GreenScreen® is a globally recognized tool designed to assess and benchmark chemicals based on hazard.  Companies and governments use GreenScreen® benchmark scores to identify chemicals of concern to human health and the environment, select safer alternatives, and to track and communicate their progress. GreenScreen® criteria and guidance are fully transparent and available for anyone to use.