Criteria Commission decides on new emission requirements

Criteria Commission decides on new emission requirements
Following the public hearing of the draft amendment to the natureplus Award Guideline 5010, the natureplus Criteria Commission has discussed the results of the hearing and decided on a number of changes regarding the natural emissions of wood.

As early as autumn 2021, the independent criteria commission of natureplus association had proposed that the otherwise very strict requirements of the natureplus ecolabel be relaxed somewhat specifically for biogenic, i.e. natural emissions from wood and wood-based materials. The background to this was new research results suggesting that these substances do not pose any health risks in the usual ranges and that manufacturers of wood-based materials cannot avoid these emissions or can only do so with disproportionate effort. This was the result of an expert opinion by the Bremen Environmental Institute on behalf of natureplus, which had evaluated these new studies. On 22 January, a public hearing on these amendments was held, attended by more than 40 representatives of industry associations and environmental and consumer protection organisations. There were 11 written comments from 9 organisations on various aspects of the regulations. Observers from the competent authorities such as UBA and DIBT were also present.

At this hearing, it became apparent that the natureplus initiative was criticised from two sides: On the one hand, representatives of building biology associations, for example, warned against too much relaxation, since increased concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have repeatedly caused adverse health effects. Also, the interaction of different compounds has not yet been investigated sufficiently. On the other hand, representatives of the timber industry association and the sawmill association, for example, demanded a complete abandonment of the unspecific TVOC sum values, because these are not toxicologically derived and therefore do not constitute a health hazard. Instead, natureplus should merely document the measured values in test reports - possibly in relation to the toxicologically relevant LCI values - without basing requirements on them. This argumentation was countered by the fact that the TVOC sum values at least provide orientation in connection with precautionary health protection.

Another complex of discussions related to individual values and the test procedures. For example, it was criticised on various occasions that natureplus, with its requirement to limit acetic acid, was using an unreliable method and would therefore have to introduce a stricter limit than planned. This objection was countered by the fact that an alternative test procedure has not yet been established in the context of emission tests in general and would also lead to additional costs that are not justified. Various other suggestions from the hearing, for example with regard to the loading of the materials in the test chamber, proved to be already established at natureplus (loading takes place according to the specifications of DIN EN 16516 and, as far as available, the applicable harmonised EN product standard). The suggestion to formulate the requirements in milligrams instead of micrograms per cubic metre in order to simplify rounding promised to be examined by the Criteria Commission.

All in all, it can be said that at this hearing the main protagonists from the different sides met for an open dialogue, whereas otherwise this topic is currently discussed in Germany rather in court by experts. All participants expressed their appreciation that natureplus is addressing the complex issue of biogenic emissions from wood and wood-based materials. It was understood that a label from an environmental and consumer protection organisation must take account of the precautionary principle in a different way than a state approval regulation can. And natureplus has also promised to closely follow the development of further scientific findings in this area in the future and to seriously examine an assessment concept for emissions that is more strongly based on proven harmfulness to health.

At the end of February 2022, a meeting of the natureplus Criteria Commission took place at which the findings from the hearing were evaluated and the new version of the Award Guideline 5010 was adopted. In the vote on the individual proposed amendments, the new requirements for emissions from wood and wood-based materials that had already been proposed were initially met:

• The requirement for TVOC is raised from ≤ 300 µg/m³ to ≤ 1000 µg/m³.
• The requirement for terpenes is raised from ≤ 200 µg/m³ to ≤ 700 µg/m³.
• The requirement for aldehydes is increased from ≤ 100 µg/m³ to ≤ 200 µg/m³.

With regard to acetic acid, the provisions already in force have been confirmed:

• Acetic acid is removed from the TVOC for wood products.
• The requirement for acetic acid is set at ≤ 600 µg/m³.

In view of the discussions during the consultation, the following further changes are specified:

• The requirements are generally stated in mg/m³ and a rounding rule is introduced after the relevant value (example: TVOC 1.0 mg/m³ or terpenes 0.7 mg/m³)
• The requirement for sensitising substances can be omitted.
• The scope of the requirements for acetic acid is harmonised with the other requirements for emissions from wood products.

The amended version of RL5010 will be published shortly on www.natureplus.org.