ANN ARBOR, MICH.—NSF Sustainability, a division of global independent public health organization NSF International, has certified TexaStone Quarries to the sustainability assessment standard for stone—ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone.
Certification to ANSI/NSC 373 is based on point totals to achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level certification. TexaStone’s quarry earned Gold level certification and its processing facility earned Silver level certification to the standard, which includes criteria for the environmental aspects of stone production including water, transportation, site management, land reclamation and adaptive reuse, and management of excess process materials and waste. Monitoring and periodic re-evaluation is required to maintain certification. Once a full chain of custody is established and certified, stone products moving from quarry to customer can also carry the ANSI/NSC 373 Genuine Stone mark.
“Dimension stone is a sustainable product because it is natural and has a long durability, but the industry wanted to identify how the stone was processed from the quarries and the processors,” said Tom Bruursema, General Manager of NSF Sustainability. “As the first to earn certification to ANSI/NSC 373, TexaStone leads its industry in adopting more sustainable practices that help its customers and organizations meet the continued growth in green buildings.”
Standards Created to Meet Demand
Transparent, credible standards along with independent third-party certification are important to meet the demands of members of the construction industry seeking more sustainable stone products. This includes government agencies (local, state and federal) and others seeking to comply with U.S. Executive Order 13514, which aims for 95 percent of government contracts to include products and services with sustainable attributes, as well as a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) standard for sustainable construction (GSA PBS-P100 facilities standards for the public building service).
“The purpose of the ANSI/NSC 373 standard is to drive sustainability practices in the natural stone industry,” said Brenda Edwards, Owner of TexaStone Quarries. “At TexaStone, we have made a commitment to transforming our organization into a more sustainable company to lead our industry in the transition to verified, more sustainably extracted and processed natural dimension stone.”
Certification to ANSI/NSC 373 by quarries and processors such as TexaStone is the first step in the product certification process for natural dimension stone. Full certification for stone products will be achieved through a combination of ANSI/NSC 373 certification for quarries and processors along with the Natural Stone Council Chain of Custody Standard for Natural Dimension Stone (NSC COC) requirements for the rest of the distribution chain.
The ANSI/NSC 373 standard was developed in partnership with NSF International, independent consultant Ecoform, and The Natural Stone Council (NSC), an organization that promotes the use of natural stone in commercial, residential, government, institutional and educational applications. NSF helped NSC through the consensus process by gathering and managing a joint committee comprised of key stakeholders to define and agree on criteria for the standard. The committee included stone industry trade associations, quarry and processing companies, NGOs, architects, and government, environmental advocacy, academia, green building and design groups.
For more information on ANSI/NSC 373 certification and NSC Chain of Custody through NSF Sustainability, click here.
