The Vinyl Council of Australia has announced that the new 'PVC Credit’ has been introduced into all Green Star building rating tools following a long review of PVC by the Green Building Council of Australia.
The Green Building Council finalised its credit review process during the first week in April after receiving and reviewing stakeholder comments on the draft PVC Credit published in January.
“With the PVC Credit now finalised, the PVC industry looks forward to working with the Green Building Council and the property industry to support the implementation of the new Credit,” Vinyl Council Chief Executive, Ms Sophi MacMillan said.
“The challenge for our industry is to ensure availability of independently verified product that meets the best practice criteria in the new Credit. We are committed to encouraging a more sustainable PVC industry with products that improve environmental performance in the building sector.”
Under the PVC credit, projects will be able to claim two points towards their Green Star rating if the project's flooring and resilient wall coverings, cable, pipe and conduit - which together account for the majority of PVC use in buildings - meet the Green Building Council’s Best Practice Guidelines.
The 27 stakeholder submissions providing feedback on the draft Credit were generally supportive of the change of approach to PVC; however, some amendments were made to finalise the new PVC Credit, including:
- Inclusion of resilient vinyl wall coverings as one of the common uses of PVC in healthcare;
- Addition to the Best Practice Guidelines for PVC to require independent confirmation of recycled PVC content in products;
- Refinement of the Best Practice Guidelines for management of end-of-life PVC.
All Green Star projects registering after 07 April 2010 must use the new Green Star 'PVC' credit.
For more information visit the Materials Category pages or contact the Vinyl Council of Australia
