EPDs and HPDs

The overall goal of an Environmental Product Declaration, EPD®, is to provide relevant, verified and comparable information about the environmental impact of goods and services. This encourages scientifically based, fair choices and stimulates the potential for market driven continuous environmental improvements.

Altro supports the EPD initiative and has collaborated with the European Resilient Flooring Manufacturers’ Institute to create an open and transparent EPD representative of our flooring products.

Altro sheet vinyl has an Industry Wide (Generic) EPD with third party certification (type III) worth 1/2 a product for purposes of credit calculation. Altro Lavencia has a Product Specific Type III EPD, worth one full product for credit calculation. Both help contribute towards a LEED point in LEED v4.  Click below to download the appropriate EPD for the specific product in question.

Industry Wide Generic HPD
EPD for Safety and slip resistant flooring

Altro Safety Flooring - Altro Walkway 20, Altro Walkway 20 SD, Altro Marine, Altro Aquarius, Altro Suprema, Altro Wood Safety, and Altro XpressLay.
EPD for Altro Stronghold 30 and Altro Atlas 40
EPD for Altro Reliance 25 and Altro Classic 25
EPD for Altro Symphonia and Altro Cantata 

Product Specific Type III EPD
EPD for Altro Lavencia

The purpose behind the Health Product Declaration is to provide a public statement of product content and the health hazards associated with exposure to its individual ingredients. It is intended to represent a way to gain greater transparency into the ingredients that make up building products and assess which of those are potentially harmful to people.  The intent of this initiative is good but the execution is flawed as there are many problems with HPDs in their current form.

HPDs and misleading lists

The current version of the Health Product Declaration (HPD) requires the disclosure of ingredients listed on one or more of over 30 separate lists, most developed for very different goals than exposure warning.  As an example; One of the lists includes the EPA’s TSCA Work Plan Chemicals List.  This is list of chemicals determined for an EPA evaluation and about the appropriateness for an EPA risk assessment.  This risk assessment has not been performed and yet these chemicals are included on the list.  Other HPD lists identify chemicals for ecological impacts (i.e., global warming, ozone depletion) which are not related to human exposures from building materials and are covered in Environmental Product Declarations. Lists conflict with authoritative bodies such as International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Not the whole truth

HPDs don’t explain the full story behind ingredients.  For example:Some flagged ingredients may be hazardous in their raw material ingredient form but perfectly safe in its final, bonded form. Some chemicals exist in different forms. One form may be hazardous whereas another form of the same chemical may be non-hazardous.  HPD makes no distinction.  

For a copy of our HPDs please download the documents at the links below:
Std Altro safety flooring HPD
Altro Cantata HPD
Altro Maxis PUR HPD
Altro Operetta, Altro Orchestra, Altro Serenade HPD
Altro Symphonia HPD
Altro Woods HPD
Altro Zodiac HPD
Altro Tungsten HPD