sustainability

We Start with an Impact Mindset

We believe that the narrative of what goes into our products and the practices that we employ to produce them, transcend the products themselves. We believe that we have a duty to embed a 7th generation philosophy into our business model and generate sustained triple bottom line value (people, planet and prosperity) for current and future generations to thrive.

Our sport flooring, acoustical underlayment and vegetation control matting each contain 75%-95% post-consumer and/or post-industrial recycled California tire rubber. In 2020 we diverted 9,272,717 pounds of post-consumer tire rubber from local landfills. Our closed-loop manufacturing system performs exceptionally well. Annually we reclaim approximately 2,900,000 pounds of recycled trim generated by our manufacturing stream of recycled rubber. This post-industrial waste becomes the primary feed stream to produce Confetti® flooring, QuietSound® Acoustical Underlayment and ClearSight® Vegetation Control Matting.

Looking beyond waste diversion, we screen our products for chemical hazards and we post a Health Product Declaration for each one, respectively. We have conducted a Type III Environmental Product Declaration and audited our carbon footprint. Scientific data and third party verification helps us better understand how we impact the environment and where there is room to improve. As a result, we have embarked on new initiatives to achieve positive and tangible social, environmental and economic outcomes, which will lead to more sustained value for our stakeholders.

Maximizing Sustained Value Starts with Measurement

In 2019 U.S. Rubber became a member of The Climate Registry (TCR). We voluntarily report our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operations to its Carbon Footprint Registry where they are audited. In addition, we are participating in the TCR’s Water-Energy Nexus Registry to register, and have audited, the emissions from our water use, which includes all source emissions from the water extraction and delivery to our manufacturing facility in Colton, CA. This holistic approach enables us to have a more complete inventory of our total carbon footprint.

We conducted a life cycle analysis of our products to determine the impact of our carbon footprint. This assessment was used to develop an action plan aimed at reducing our overall energy consumption, which in turn reduced our carbon footprint. We replaced all of our lighting with highly efficient LED lighting and we installed photovoltaic panels on the roof of our factory and office building. These measures dramatically reduced the amount of electricity we pulled from the grid. Adding a battery system reduced our demand spike. The net result of this initiative was a 65% reduction in our carbon footprint.

Type III Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) are independently verified and registered documents that communicate transparent and comparable information about the life-cycle environmental impact of products. A product is measured on impact categories such as GHG, freshwater use, pollution of air, waste disposal (hazardous and nonhazardous), and other important environmental metrics.

As a voluntary declaration of the life-cycle environmental impact, having an EPD for a product does not imply that the declared product is environmentally superior to alternatives, but it does show a manufacturer’s commitment to measuring and reducing the overall product impact. If a manufacturer performs an EPD, they have looked at their product through an environmental microscope. Better material and operational choices can be made as a result.

The relevant standard for an EPD is ISO 14025, where they are referred to as “type III environmental declarations.” A type III environmental declaration is created and registered in the framework of a program. U.S. Rubber registered its EPD with Labeling Sustainability.

To download the third-party verified report, please click the button below.

Recycled Content Declarations

U.S. Rubber is committed to manufacturing its products with 74.98% – 94.98% recycled tire rubber from discarded tires diverted from California landfills and recycled trim generated by U.S. Rubber’s manufacturing stream of recycled rubber. Survivor™ SportFloor is manufactured only with post-consumer recycled content. Confetti™ flooring is manufactured solely with post-industrial recycled content. QuietSound™ and ClearSight™ are produced using both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled content.

To download a LEED project letter defining the recycled content and its regional availability, please click the button below.

Manufacturer Material Ingredient Inventory Replacement

A Manufacturer Material Ingredient Inventory is accepted by LEED and provides full disclosure of the potential chemicals of concern in products by comparing product ingredients to a set of priority “hazard” lists based on the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals and additional lists from other government agencies. This Manufacturer report qualifies for numerous green building schemes, including LEED v4, WELL, and Living Product Challenge.

U.S. Rubber has performed complete screening of the full range of its products including QuietSound™ Acoustical Underlayment, Survivor™ SportFloor and published its subsequent results in the internationally recognized supplier declaration format.

Completed Manufacturer Material Ingredient Inventories can be downloaded for US Rubber product below.

CPDH v1.2 VOC Test Report in ClearChem

U.S. Rubber performed its California Department of Public Health (CDPH) v1.2 with Berkeley Analytical Laboratories. CDPH Standard Method V1.2, which superseded CDPH Standard Method V1.1 in 2017(CA Section 01350), is the most widely used standard in North America for VOC testing and for evaluating VOC emissions from building products including flooring, suspended ceilings, insulation, wall panels, paints and coatings, and wall coverings. This standard is referenced in USGBC LEED v4 and 4.1.

U.S. Rubber’s low emitting material certificate can be downloaded below or from the ClearChem program website.

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