Dec. 22, 2008 – Alcoa announced that its Kawneer North America business, the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum products and systems for the commercial construction industry, has been awarded Cradle to CradleSM environmental product certification.
Alcoa announced that its Kawneer North America business, the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum products and systems for the commercial construction industry, has been awarded Cradle to CradleSM environmental product certification at the Silver level for its 1600 Wall System 1 and 1600 Wall System 2, InLighten, Light Shelf and 1600 SunShade. Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is an independent U.S. environmental certification process for materials and products, assessing the total impact of a product on human health and the environment. These are the first C2C certifications awarded to Kawneer and reflect Kawneer and Alcoa’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.
C2C certified products must meet several criteria in the categories of non-toxic material content, recycling, production energy and water use, and social responsibility. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), a consulting firm focused on industrial development, developed the C2C certification program. The process is an extensive evaluation of a material or product’s ingredients, and the complete product, for their impact on not only human and environmental health, but also the capacity for the product to be recycled or safely composted. C2C is poised to be the leading rating system for green products in parallel to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for green buildings. Recently, C2C was included in LEED as an “Innovation Credit,” in which a project seeking certification can achieve credit if at least two and a half percent of its building products are C2C certified.
“Now architects can more easily leverage the Kawneer product range to achieve
LEED credits at no added cost,” says Eddie Bugg, director of sustainable solutions. “With these certifications, Kawneer offers the broadest range of C2C certified products in the architectural aluminum industry.”
Sustainability is at the heart of Kawneer’s product line, which is comprised of one of the earth's most plentiful recyclables, aluminum, and its range of thermal and solar products works to maximize energy savings, while reducing energy demand.
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