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GBCSA / Certify / Technical Library / Products & Materials

Products & Materials

The Green Star Materials category consists of credits that facilitate and recognise the efficient use and management of building and fit-out materials. Materials credits reward overall reductions to the amount of materials used, the reuse of building materials, and the specification of recycled and recyclable materials wherever possible.

Products and materials in Green Star rating tools are addressed by credits which target the consumption of resources through selection, use, reuse and efficient management practices of building and fitout materials. This section outlines guidance relevant to product suppliers and manufacturers for current rating tools.

Recognised Product Certification Organisations

The Green Building Council South Africa will not test, review or certify products or materials, only building projects. Instead, the Green Building Council will rely on credible, third party certification bodies as and when such bodies are formed.

Product certification schemes are assessed against the criteria stipulated in the GBCSA Product Certification Scheme – Assessment Tool

Our Evaluation of Product Certification Schemes – (Rev 7) outlines the list of recognised product certification schemes as well as the process to be duly followed by product certification schemes seeking recognition.

Our Members enjoy discounts with EcoSpecifier and EcoStandard

Referencing Green Star in Product Literature

Product suppliers can market their product as contributing to a project’s Green Star rating but the product itself cannot be Green Star certified, Green Star rated, or in any other way officially approved or endorsed by the Green Building Council South Africa. Suppliers must validate the environmental merit of a product or material in a project’s submission for Green Star assessment.

Read the Materials fact sheet for product manufacturers and suppliers.

PVC Communique

In late 2011 the Green Building Council South Africa completed a comprehensive credit review process for the Mat-7 PVC Minimisation credit.

The GBCSA Technical Steering Committee resolved to withdraw the credit after considering the outcomes of the credit review which involved stakeholder engagement through a PVC Expert Reference Panel and precedents set by other green building councils surrounding the treatment of PVC in green building rating tools. The withdrawal of the PVC Minimisation credit does not imply that PVC is or is not a “ green” building material, nor that the GBCSA has endorsed, or given “the green light” to PVC. Statements implying that the GBCSA has endorsed a material by its exclusion from the Green Star rating system are inaccurate and considered misleading.

For more detailed information, please download the GBCSA PVC Comminique.