Mapei, Building a Sustainable Future Together

A recent study shows the average person spends between 80-90% of their time indoors, a valid reason to be concerned  about the quality of the air around us and the impact this may have on our health, wellbeing, and productivity.

Numerous factors can affect the quality of the air inside our homes; human behavior, ventilation, furniture and even building products. These products may contain contaminants such as VOCs or volatile organic compounds, which are gradually emitted during installation and over the life of the product. 

So, what are VOCs and why are they important?

Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are carbon compounds that vaporize at normal room temperatures, gradually evaporating from a building product into the air, potentially causing short and long-term health effects.

Some types of VOCs may be cancerogenous, while others can be toxic, irritating or hazardous to human health. Low VOC building products are becoming fundamental to a building’s compliance with many international Green Building standards and certification programmes such as; LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)

• LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
• BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)

GEV, the Association for the Control of Emissions in Products for Flooring Installation, Adhesives and Building Materials, created EMICODE as a system for meticulously assessing building products, certifying those with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Mapei Group joined GEV back in 2005 and currently offers customers an extensive portfolio of EMICODE Class EC1 (“low emission”) and EMICODE EC1 PLUS (“very low emission”) products. 

Mapei invests increasing amounts of resources to design innovative and solvent-free products with low emission of VOC. 70% of all Mapei’s research is focused on developing eco-sustainable products, aiming to eliminate hazardous substances emitted by the products,

Customers can access Sustainability Product Reports on the Mapei website, which include data of a product's VOC content, a VOC emissions certificate and test methods for use towards any international sustainability assessment.