Mar 10, 2009

Sustainability standards development and related exchange of information will highlight the inaugural April 21-23 meetings of ASTM International Committee E60 on Sustainability. Coinciding with Earth Day 2009 on April 22, the meetings are scheduled in conjunction with the ASTM April committee week sessions in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Forum for a Comprehensive Approach to Sustainability
The concept of sustainability takes in the more familiar environmental consideration of “going green” by recycling and reducing waste, plus the addition of economic and social principles. Sustainability, according to ASTM E2114, Terminology for Sustainability Relative to the Performance of Buildings, meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

According to Dru Meadows, E60 chair and principal at theGreenTeam Inc. in Tulsa, Okla., Committee E60 members includes stakeholders who are applying the principles of sustainability through standards development. “E60 is pioneering an approach to determining what the world’s needs are and how they will be met,” says Meadows. “Up until now, it has been done piecemeal, city by city, industry by industry, but in the long run, that doesn’t work. It just shifts problems around and causes conflict and redundancies. The only way we can do this is comprehensively.”

Meadows adds, “Committee E60 has representation from the entire spectrum of socio-economic interests coming together to create a consensus on problems and solutions. Just as economics of the world are intertwined, sustainable solutions will be as well. ASTM is a logical platform because it is an international voluntary consensus organization with more than 30,000 members, technical experts representing producers, users, consumers, government and academia from more than 136 countries. It is an ideal forum for people to share what is happening and discuss what needs to happen.”

The committee organized in October 2008 to house both existing and new standards activities that will encourage sustainability practices.

ASTM Sustainability Database on Web Site
The extensive ASTM International sustainability database, available to both members and nonmembers, underscores the organization’s commitment to sustainability; it references standards that address one or more sustainability aspects in many industry sectors. The database of standards from many ASTM committees has recently been expanded, and it can be found on the ASTM International Web site at www.astm.org/sustainability.htm. Along with the database are additional links and ASTM information related to the topic.

April Agenda Topics for E60 Subcommittees on Green Meetings and Buildings Products Subcommittees E60.01 on Buildings and Construction and E60.02 on Hospitality have planned extensive standards development work for their April meetings.

E60.01 will continue to work on a proposed new standard, WK18435, Classification for Environmentally Preferable Products, which provides a framework for a consistent approach to the format and content of environmental information and in turn will enable the user to evaluate the comparative environmental impact of building products. Meadows says that the proposed classification provides the first comprehensive standard in this area, and that the April meeting attendees will discuss results of a pilot program to refine the document and verify its viability in the marketplace.

Additional standards development on the agenda for E60.01 includes proposed standard practices for water-conserving systems, test methods related to assessing aspects of green roofs, and a draft Standard Guide for Marketing and Product Claims Related to Sustainable Building.

E60.02 will continue its development of several standard practices for evaluating and selecting meeting venues, destinations, communication supplies, audiovisual equipment, onsite offices and transportation when planning green meetings, events, trade shows and conferences.

Additional Participation Welcome
ASTM International welcomes and encourages participation in the development of its standards. ASTM’s open consensus process, using advanced Internet-based standards development tools, ensures worldwide access for all interested individuals. For more information on becoming an ASTM member, please visit ww.astm.org/MEMBERSHIP. For more information about E60, please contact Steve Mawn, ASTM E60 staff manager (phone: 610-832-9726; smawn@astm.org).

Release #8201