Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified environmental and social performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. Through strong, sustainable business practices, B Corp certified businesses voluntarily commit to accelerating changes that create a positive impact for their employees, communities, and the planet.
Climate Neutral is a nonprofit organization working with companies to transition towards a low-carbon economy. Climate Neutral works with brands to measure, reduce, and off-set their carbon emissions. Thereby helping brands to address their climate impact, while helping consumers to identify and choose brands with a low carbon footprint.
Cradle to Cradle Certified (C2C) is a global scoring system of brands for their commitment to the circular economy – the reduction of waste, more efficient uses of natural resources, and social responsibility. The certification process assesses environmental and social performance across five main sustainability categories: 1. material health, 2. material reuse, 3. carbon management, 4. water stewardship, 5. social fairness.
Earth911 is North America’s largest and most extensive recycling database with over 350 materials and 100,000+ listings to choose from. The site was designed to help people make small changes to recycle their materials properly by simply entering in their material type and zip code to generate a list of centers close by their location where they accept their material type for recycling.
The Ellen Macarthur Foundation was founded in 2010 as an international charity with the goal to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. Since its creation, the Ellen Macarthur Foundation has emerged as a global thought leader and is widely recognized as a leading authority on the circular economy, establishing this systems approach in shaping policy and business agendas.
The circular economy is a systems solution framework that aims to tackle global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. The circular economy is based on three principles designed to: 1. keep materials in use, 2. eliminate waste, and 3. regenerate natural systems.
ENERGY STAR is a program run by the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the U.S. Department of Energy to promote energy efficiency. The ENERGY STAR label provides information to consumers on the energy consumption and efficiency of everyday products and devices we use in our homes and every day lives. The website’s large database of ENERGY STAR certified products help consumers to choose products and devices that save energy, and help to reduce the environmental impacts from energy use.
Environmental Working Group (EWG) provides a database of information on cleaning product ingredients to help supplement incomplete data available from the companies that manufacture the products. EWG ratings indicate relative level of concern caused by exposure to the ingredients of the product, as well as reflect potential health hazards. EWG’s stringent assessment of cleaning product ingredients are meant to help people to make more informed choices about their cleaning products, ones that are non-toxic, healthier for your health, home, and the environment.
FloorScore is a recognized certification standard that tests surface flooring materials to ensure they are made with limited amounts of toxic ingredients that can off-gas – emit airborne chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These chemicals that release into the air can be toxic, and contribute to indoor air pollution. The FloorScore label helps consumers to choose materials with little or no airborne chemicals. Therefore contributing to better indoor air quality, and creating healthier indoor environments to live, work, and play.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global nonprofit organization that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests. The organization works to prevent deforestation, and to preserve a forest’s environmental, economic, and social benefits. The FSC label on a product affirms that the natural materials used to make a product are sourced from a sustainably managed forest. Therefore ensuring that a forest’s natural resources are replenished and preserved.
Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) is the first global standard for organic latex products and processing, especially in sleep products such as mattresses. The standard addresses criteria for latex products made from organic raw materials, as well as for materials from non-organic origins. To achieve GOLS, a product is required to contain more than 95% of certified organic raw materials. In addition, manufacturers must comply with mandatory environmental and social regulations, beginning with sustainable harvesting of raw materials, through to responsible manufacturing processes and emissions test for permissible limits of harmful substances.
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is a globally recognized label that certifies the organic status of textiles throughout the entire textile supply chain. From harvesting organic raw materials sourced from a sustainable farming system, to environmentally and socially responsible textile processing and manufacturing practices that prohibit the use of toxic chemical dyes. Which are commonly used in textile processing that get discharged into the air and water, which can destroy ecosystems and biodiversity.
GREENGUARD certified products have been scientifically tested to meet some of the world’s most rigorous emissions standards for exposure to airborne chemicals and pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Chemicals that off-gas into the air can be bad for human health. They can be found in products and materials that we use to build, renovate, and furnish our indoor environments. The GREENGUARD label helps designers and consumers to identify products and materials that contain little or no airborne chemicals. Therefore reducing indoor air pollution levels, and creating healthier indoor spaces to live, work and play.
LITTERLESS is a database that provides you with a list of places in your city for food scrap collection and/or drop-off services in the United States to be used for composting (instead of throwing your food scraps into the trash to end up in landfills). Food waste that ends up in landfills generates/emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Composting food waste works to naturally decompose and convert your organic matter into nutrient-rich soil amendment or mulch that can help you to grow healthy plants and crops.
Material Bank is the fastest and the most powerful way to search and sustainably sample design materials. Their database holds an unprecedented collection of design materials from textiles, wall coverings, to paints and more, along with advanced and complex search options for over 450+ brands so that architects and designers can find all their materials in one place. Material Bank is committed to sustainability in their sampling process, and have been 100% carbon neutral shipping since 2020, as well as are committed to Zero by 2040.
mindful MATERIALS is a centralized sustainability database of building products and materials that are searchable and can be filtered by categories such as sustainability issues, certification standards, rating systems, and more. The database works off of the Common Materials Framework (CMF) that provides the industry with a centralized education tool for understanding how certifications, disclosures, and standards contribute to product and material sustainability factors, and to search for products and materials that meet an individual or company sustainability goals.
Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX is one of the world’s best-known label for strict standards when it comes to testing textiles for harmful substances. The OEKO-TEX certification takes into account every single component and ingredient that can be harmful to human health. Whether it’s home textiles or decorative materials, the OEKO-TEX label signifies high-quality and sustainable textiles at all stages of the value-creation chain.
PaintCare is a non-profit organization that collects and manages leftover paints from households and businesses as many people don’t know how to dispose of leftover paint responsibly, and many places don’t provide simple options to recycle paint. PaintCare has set up programs in states across the U.S. that have passed stewardship laws to have collection points where people can drop off leftover paint. You can find their locations on their website.
SPOT UL is a database that contains sustainable product information for over 130,000 products. The comprehensive database also contains downloadable product disclosures, documents needed for green building submittals to show that a product meets rating requirements for major certifications such as LEED, WELL, and Fitwel. With a SPOT UL account, architects, designers, and purchasers have the benefits of being able to bookmark products, save searches, and create project folders to collaborate with different teams, and more.
WaterSense is a voluntary partnership program sponsored by the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The WaterSense label certifies that a product is water-efficient, using at least 20% less water, and performs just as well, if not better than a regular model of a same product. The WaterSense label helps consumers to choose products that reduce their water usage, therefore conserving water at home, outdoors, and at work.