Towards the close of 2011, the industry’s new standard for tile and installation material product sustainability, ANSI A138.1 was approved by the ANSI A108 Committee. Following that approval, the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) was able to move forward with its Green Squared certification program.

Covering a full gamut of multi-attribute social and environmental sustainability criteria, ANSI A138.1 is the basis for the Green Squared certification program. A tile or installation material in conformance with ANSI A138.1 and certified under the Green Squared program is allowed to bear the Green Squared Certified mark. This means that the product’s conformance has been verified by an independent third party certification body authorized by TCNA to participate in the Green Squared program. TCNA is pleased to announce that the first certification bodies to participate in Green Squared are NSF International, Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), and Underwriter Laboratories (UL) Environment. All three of these organizations are highly regarded in the North American architectural marketplace and have operations worldwide.

When Green Squared was announced both domestically and internationally, it received a tremendous amount of industry support. Manufacturers are already in discussion with the participating certification bodies. TCNA plans to announce the inaugural class of Green Squared Certified products at Coverings 2012.