Examining the green credentials of Corian®
Is Corian sustainable? is one of the most commonly asked questions you’ll hear from consumers about the world’s first and best-known solid surface. And it’s unsurprising that they ask it. It’s already four years ago that HuffPost declared, “Sustainable Luxury Can Save The Planet.” Today, the notion that buying higher quality consumer goods means that they’ll last longer and, thus, do less damage to the environment is well-embedded in our society.
Sustainable luxury
Here in 2021, luxury bathroom and kitchen shoppers don’t choose high-end interior design retailers so much for what they deliver in terms of bling! as for the chance to purchase something they know could last them a lifetime, if treated with the appropriate level of care and attention.
Yet, even so, only last year, Harper’s Bazaar, famously suggested that, “there’s a long way to go before [luxury brands are] run as sustainable businesses.” So there quite naturally continues to be an air of inquisitiveness about materials like Corian®, which consumers know aren’t exactly manmade but aren’t quite 100% natural, either.
More and more, shoppers are looking for reassurance not only that their purchases will provide latent sustainability via their longevity, but that they will also provide active sustainability via their manufacturing processes, chemical composition, reduction of excess waste and a myriad of other factors that contribute to the size of their individual carbon footprints.
Striving to be environmentally friendly
The truth is, the DuPont™ company – the owners of the Corian® brand – were one of the very first large-scale enterprises to publicly establish environmental goals over 16 years ago. And, whilst it’s been an on-going process that has seen the company’s sustainability commitments steadily growing, today DuPont™ can confidently claim that it has not only significantly reduced its internal carbon footprint, but that it is also delivering on market-driven targets.
It does so by demonstrating absolute transparency in terms of its material composition.
Is Corian® high in VOCs?
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are picking up a lot of attention in the war on poor air quality. They are, essentially, chemical compounds whose composition makes it possible for them to evaporate at room temperature under normal conditions of pressure. The main offenders in emitting airborne chemicals tend to be products used in interior environments. This includes furniture, building materials and other household products, which can emit thousands of VOCs and particles into the air.
The great news for solid surface fans is that Corian® is low in VOCs as certified by The Greenguard Environmental Institute, which tests products for chemical emissions. And not just Corian® but the Joint Adhesive that binds it, too. For consumers with a strong sense of social responsibility, this makes a significant difference simply in terms of easing their conscience and increasing their confidence to buy.
But there’s also further Greenguard certification that demonstrates the suitability of Corian® for use in environments such as schools and healthcare settings, where children and adults sensitive to emissions spend extensive periods of time: the Greenguard Gold standard, which has been applied to both Corian® and, again, its Joint Adhesive.
And it’s not just Greenguard that’s given Corian® the, ahem, green light in terms of VOCs, either. Its performance has also been given the French A+ standard, the Finnish voluntary emission classification of building materials M1 classification (i.e. the lowest emission category) and German BEMMA certification for air tightness, sterility and emissions of pollutants.
Corian® and the construction industry
For builders, architects and other professionals wondering if Corian® helps them to meet various regulatory environmental standards, here are just some of the other standards towards which Corian® enables achievement:
- LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
- EQ credits for low-emitting materials in the category Indoor Environmental Quality
- MT Material Resources credits for building reuse interior non-structural elements, building product disclosure and optimization and recycled content
- BREEAM®
- For Hea 02 indoor air quality
- For Mat 02 environmental product declaration
- For Mat 03 responsible sourcing
- WELL™
- For Version 1: Air, Nourishment, Mind
- For Version 2: Air, Water, Materials
- DGNB System
- For TEC 1.5 ease of cleanability of surfaces
- For TEC 1.6 easy-to-recycle materials, reuse or material recovery
- For SOC 1.2 indoor air quality (VOC)
- For ENV 1.1 2.1 calculation of building life cycle assessment
- BYGGVARU BEDÖMNINGEN
- Corian® is registered as an accepted material
- SKA Rating
- Corian® has obtained compliancy for retail segment in countertops M27 and joinery in offices M06 v1.2
- Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
- Helps earn product credits for LEED v4
- Satisfies requirements of Product Category Rules and follows international standards ISO 14044, ISO 14025 and ISO 21930
- Home Innovation – NGBS Green Verifier
- Corian® is an official partner
- Recycled Content Certification
- Certain colours of Corian® have been 3rd party certified for recycled content
The Impact of Aesthetic Minimalism
There’s no doubting that Corian® is a high-performance material when it comes to environmental friendliness. However, a final consideration in all of this pertains to the way in which Corian® is used by product designers. A question, you might even say, of style.
Its sleekness and simplicity as a material lends itself to the aesthetics of modernist minimalism and you will find that a great many Corian® products are designed to slot somewhat unassumingly and unobtrusively into the spaces we remodel. The lives we build around Corian® products are those free from clutter, embellishment and a general sense of the unnecessary. Corian® is the minimalist choice in an increasingly maximal world.
Of course, this is hardly an accreditable quality for the material. What it does indicate, however, is that those who choose Corian® are – arguably for the most part – people for whom sustainability and positive environmental impact are central to their everyday ethos on how to live their lives. And that’s surely worth pause for thought in terms of the ways in which we continue to develop Corian® products and the ways in which we retail them.
Looking for something else to read? Check out our interview with Architect and businesswoman Stephanie Agostino who decked out her Spanish beauty salon in Corian®.