Austrian Ecological Quality Certification (Austrian Eco Label): The Austrian Ecological Quality Certification is a very strict environmental standard developed and managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water for the certification of ecologically-friendly production processes and products. This certification addresses many aspects of production and materials including:
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Use of hazardous and/or high VOC materials such as formaldehyde, PVC plastics, or any material know to be carcinogenic
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Sustainable harvesting of all woods
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Waste management and recycling
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Worker health protection
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Maintenance of production equipment
- Requirements for product quality, lifespan, ease of repair, availability of spare parts and after-sales service
All Team 7 harvesting practices, production processes and final products meet the strict standards of the Austrian Ecological Quality Certification label.
Biodegradable: A material that is capable of decomposing in nature within a relatively short period of time.
Biodiversity: Biodiversity is essentially the number of plant and animal species in an area, and the way they interact. Most biologists and ecologists consider high biodiversity to indicate a healthy environment. It is important to place illegal logging and clear cutting of forests in a context of species extinction and biodiversity loss.
Clear cutting: Cutting of wood (forests) without reforestation. Clear cutting of forests is a leading cause of soil erosion and biodiversity loss.
Cradle-to-Cradle: A design principle that advocates the elimination of waste by recycling a material or product into a new or similar product at the end of its useful life, rather than disposing of it.
Ecosystem: The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environmental surroundings.
Embodied Energy: Embodied energy refers to the quantity of energy required to manufacture and supply, to the point of use, a product, material or service. Traditionally considered, embodied energy is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary - from the raw material extraction, to transport, manufacturing, assembly, installation as well as the capital and other costs of a specific material - to produce a service or product and finally its disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition.
Emission: The release of any gas, particles or vapor into the environment from a commercial, industrial, agricultural, or residential source, including cars.
Environmental Audit: An independent assessment of the current status of a party’s compliance with environmental requirements, policies and/or practices.
Environmental Impact: Any change (good or bad) to the environment that result from (manufacturing or other) activities, products or services.
Environmental Management System (EMS or EMAS (in German)): A series of activities designed to monitor and manage the environmental impacts of manufacturing activities.
EPA: The acronym for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Government organization charged with setting and enforcing environmental regulations nationwide. Website:
www.epa.gov .
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC):The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products. This offers customers around the world one guide by which to choose products derived from socially and environmentally responsible forestry practices. Much of the Earth’s remaining forests today suffer from over-use, clear-cutting and illegal exploitation. Many of the wood species used in furniture today, particularly those from Africa and Asia, are endangered by over-use.
Formaldehyde: Formaldehyde, a neurotoxin and carcinogen, is a chemical in the group of VOCs used widely to manufacture building materials and household products. It is also a by-product of combustion and natural processes.
Formaldehyde is used as a component of glues and adhesives, in paints and coating products. Formaldehyde resin finishes are also used to add permanent press qualities in clothes and draperies to make fabrics, like bed sheets, wrinkle free. In homes, the most significant sources of formaldehyde are likely to be pressed wood products made using adhesives that contain urea-formaldehyde resins, such as particleboard, plywood paneling or medium density fiberboard and furniture made with these products, durable press drapes, other textiles like bed linens, and paint, stains and glues. Formaldehyde appears naturally in very small amounts in humans, animals and plants.
High levels of formaldehyde can trigger asthma attacks and difficulty in breathing, nausea, eyes, nose and throat irritation, wheezing and coughing, insomnia and fatigue. It has also been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans. (Useful websites:
www.epa.gov,
http://www.childrenshealthfund.org)
TEAM 7 does not use any materials containing added formaldehyde for its solid wood furniture.
Green Design: Green Design is design that goes beyond being attractive, efficient, and functional. It is design that cares about how such goals are achieved, about the effect on people, and on the environment. A green product should be made of sustainable materials (non-toxic, renewable, recycled or recyclable), should not off-gas VOCs for better indoor air quality and should conform to internationally recognized environmental and labor standards.
Green (Renewable) Energy: Environmentally friendly energy and power that comes from renewable and non-polluting sources. Primary green energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass. More than 80 % of the energy TEAM 7 uses come from green sources.
GREENGUARD: A product certification program overseen by the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. All GREENGUARD certified products undergo indoor quality performance testing according to stringent environmental testing protocols and meet current indoor air quality standards. Website:
www.greenguard.org.
Greenhouse Effect: The warming of the Earth’s atmosphere attributed to a buildup of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide, methane, CFC and others).
Greenhouse Gas: Greenhouse gases are the gases present in the earth''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s atmosphere which reduce the loss of heat into space and therefore contribute to higher global temperatures through the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are essential to maintaining the temperature of the Earth. However, an excess of greenhouse gases can raise the temperature of a planet to lethal levels. Major greenhouse gases are, among others, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Indoor air quality refers to the content of interior air that could affect health and comfort of building occupants. The IAQ may be compromised by microbial contaminants (
mold,
bacteria), chemicals (example: formaldehyde) or
allergens.
Indoor Air Pollution: Indoor air pollution refers to indoor air quality that is compromised by pollutants that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms. Common pollutants are radon, mold, carbon monoxide, VOCs (formaldehyde), asbestos fibers, carbon dioxide and ozone. Recent findings have demonstrated that indoor air is often more polluted than outdoor air (useful websites:
www.epa.gov,
www.lungusa.org). Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles (off-gassing of VOCs) into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems. (See also
: Formaldehyde)
ISO 14001: ISO 14001 is the international specification for an environmental management system (EMS). It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services, planning environmental objectives and measurable targets, implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review. The overall idea is the establishment of an organized approach to systematically reduce the impact to the environmental of elements which an organization can control.
ISO 9001: ISO 9001 is an international specification system of standards for a quality management system by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization
LEED: The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary national standard for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED is an acronym and stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED certification provides independent, third party verification that a building project is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work.
The guidelines for the LEED certification have been established by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), a national organization, founded in 1993, whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of green building practices. (Website:
www.usgbc.org).
Life Cycle Assessment (Analysis): The process of analyzing a product’s entire life, from raw materials extraction through manufacturing, delivery, use and disposal or reuse.
Oeko-Tex Standard 100: The Oeko-Tex Standard 100 is a globally uniform testing and certification system for textile raw materials, intermediate and end products at all stages of production. The tests, according to Oeko-Tex Standard 100, looks for harmful substances which are prohibited or regulated by law, chemicals which are known to be harmful to health, and parameters which are included as a precautionary measure to safeguard health. A tested textile product is allocated to one of the four Oeko-Tex product classes based on its intended use. The more intensively a product comes into contact with the skin, the stricter the human ecological requirements it must fulfil.(Website:
www.oeko-tex.com)
Off-gassing (Emitting, Volatilizing): A term used to describe gaseous forms of chemicals coming out of an item, such as VOCs. For example, that “new car smell” is from off-gassing of plasticizers in the car’s dashboard and upholstery. Technically, the smell of a pie coming out of the oven is also off-gassing, so it is not always a problem.
Organic: Organic refers to a group of chemicals made of linked carbon atoms with other chemicals attached, and it is imprecisely used in the term “organic food” (where it means free of synthetic chemicals). All life forms are made of linked carbons, including old life forms that became petroleum. Therefore, organic refers also to products made of chemicals synthesized from petroleum. Formaldehyde is one chemical in the group of VOCs since it is an organic chemical and because it off-gasses into the air. The other class of chemicals is inorganic (like metals or minerals).
Organic Food: Organic foods are produced according to certain production standard, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. Livestock are reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. In most countries, organic produce must not be genetically modified. Organic food production is legally regulated. Currently, the United States and many other countries require producers to obtain organic certification in order to market food as organic.
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride): PVC is a widely used thermoplastic polymer (plastic).The production of plastic accounts for the single largest use of chlorine, and PVC is the most common of all chlorinated plastics. Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, is a known human
carcinogen, according to the World Health Organization’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Workers in PVC manufacturing facilities and residents of surrounding communities can be affected by exposure to these chemicals. Some studies have found higher rates of testicular cancers and a rare form of liver cancer among workers in PVC plants. During production as well as during disposal through incineration (burning) PVC is environmentally very problematic as, as a side effect,
Dioxin, also a known carcinogen, is produced. Applications for PVC in the construction, building and furniture industry are (Vinyl) siding, pipes, window frames, floor coverings, packaging material, furniture, household products and many more.
TEAM 7 does not use PVC at all, in accordance with the regulations of the Austrian Ecological Quality Certification.
Recyclable Materials: Materials that can be recovered, reclaimed or diverted from the waste stream for reuse.
Recycled Content: Refers to the percentage of recycled materials in a product.
Sick Building Syndrome: According to the EPA, a term used to describe situations in which a building’s occupants experience acute health or comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no a specific illness or cause can be identified. The symptoms may include coughing, irritated eyes and throat, headaches, dizziness and nausea. Most of the sick building syndrome is related to poor indoor air quality. Sick building causes are frequently pinned down to flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by out-gassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mold, improper exhaust ventilation or fresh-air intake, and lack of adequate air filtration.
Sustainability: “Meeting the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (as defined by the Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development). Sustainability is concerned with how to make human economic systems last longer and have less impact on ecological systems and the environment as a whole.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): Organic volatile compounds are a group of chemicals that off-gas (volatilize, emit) into the air. The word organic here refers to something made up of linked carbon atoms. There are a plethora of products that emit VOCs such as building materials, like MDF and fiber boards, furniture, carpets, paints and other finishes, glues, cleaning supplies, disinfectants, copiers, dry-cleaned clothing, air fresheners and so on. In sufficient quantities, VOCs can cause or exacerbate acute and chronic illnesses. Their effects may range from lung, skin, or eye irritations to potentially cancer-causing effects.
Waste-to-Energy: The practice of incinerating waste products to generate heat, steam, or electricity. It is also a mean to divert waste from landfills by finally using it up.
TEAM 7 uses all wood waste to heat its offices and manufacturing facilities in winter.