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Q&A regarding stone and sustainability

 

by John Mattke, Chairman, Natural Stone Council (NSC) Sustainability Committee

What do the NSC’s sustainability efforts mean to individual businesses?

As you are probably aware, we undertook a very large survey initiative in partnership with the University of Tennessee’s Center for Clean Products. The data we collected from individual businesses forms the foundation for establishing the baseline environmental footprint of the stone industry. By offering the facts about natural stone and environmental considerations, we hope to increase market demand, improve the perceptions about our companies and our industry and challenge our competitors with solid information.

Right now, as you read this, the design community is making product selection decisions and comparisons based on environmental and life-cycle impacts. There are many other industries such as carpet, concrete and wood that are already prepared to respond to the market with this information. We need to make sure that genuine stone is adequately represented.

Finally, the NSC’s sustainability efforts should help to educate the industry about the growing trend toward social responsibility and the importance of what we call the “triple bottom line,” which refers to key selection criteria — including financial, social and environmental measures.

What is the NSC doing with all of the surveys they collected earlier this year?

Since the University of Tennessee has received and analyzed all of the data collected earlier this year, they have started to produce several sets of information — life-cycle datasets, best practices, case studies and material fact sheets. If you haven’t been to www.GenuineStone.com lately to see all of the documents there, you should do that today. Anyone can access this information and each new piece as it is published.

 

Life-cycle datasets: To accurately assess the environmental profile of natural stone products, impacts over the entire life cycle of these products must be identified. Information characterizing stone fabrication was amassed through a rigorous survey of the industry, and life-cycle datasets have been established for granite, limestone and sandstone quarrying and processing operations. The datasets can be accessed through www.GenuineStone.com and downloaded from the University of Tennessee Center for Clean Products’ Web site.

Version two, which is projected to include additional sandstone data, a marble dataset, and begin to add specific transportation data, is currently in development.

Best practices: The NSC is committed to supporting sustainable initiatives and innovations at all levels of the production of Genuine Stone® products. As such, best practices of the industry have been identified, and these guidance documents were created to provide assistance in implementing environmentally-preferable operations.

• Best Practice: Water Consumption, Treatment, and Reuse”
• Best Practice: Site Maintenance and Quarry Closure (published November 2008)

 

Case Studies — Genuine Stone products inherently have some environmentally preferable characteristics. The case studies highlight these positive attributes of stone and its application as a green building product.

• Case Study: Application of Green Building Certification Programs to Natural Stone
• Case Study: Longevity of Stone Flooring and Associated Human Health and Environmental Impacts (published October 2008)

 

Material Fact Sheets — Designers are more frequently being asked to identify green building materials, but they do not always have the needed information. Using the life-cycle data, material fact sheets describing several stone types are being generated to provide useful information in this selection process, among other information. The one-page (double-sided) documents will summarize the current market for stone, regions of deposits worldwide, physical properties and  applicable ASTM standards, as well as environmental data and human health considerations. Currently, we have fact sheets for granite, limestone, marble and sandstone.

Again, all of these documents and an overview of our current and future activity can be accessed right now at www.GenuineStone.com.

 

In these tough economic times, how will sustainability impact my bottom line?

With regard to sustainability, you are either in the game or you’re sitting on the sidelines. If you’re not on board with sustainable practices, you will surely see a negative impact on your bottom line because your competitors get it. I firmly believe that to be in the game going forward, we will all need to be involved, well-versed in the sustainability performance of our companies and working to improve the overall environmental footprint of our industry. If people believe that sustainability is a fad, they are mistaken.

Source: Stone World Fabricator E News by Stone World Magazine