Summary Report: Adhesives and sealants’ key sustainability role in the transition pathway for the construction ecosystem

Sustainability in the construction sector is receiving substantial attention in the European Union (EU) as a consequence of both the absolute scale of this sector and its share of materials usage and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Recent legislative initiatives, such as the EU Green Deal, cover the construction sector with specific provisions, addressing all levels from entire buildings to construction elements and to the materials used for their production and installation. The environmental performance of adhesives and sealants used in the construction sector is therefore of high interest. The full report is available for FEICA members here.

#construction #sustainabledevelopment

Publication ref.: RAM-EX-L05-030

Joint Statement of FEICA and Deutsche Bauchemie on the Proposal of the European Commission for a Revision of the Construction Products Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 305/2011)

The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) plays a key role for the construction chemicals industry. The revision should overcome current problems in harmonised standardisation. It should further strengthen the European single market for construction products so that construction and renovation measures remain affordable and make an important contribution to the fight against climate change. To support the transformation to a greener and more digital construction sector, the environmental sustainability of construction products must be brought more into focus in the future CPR, whereby practicable provisions are important to ensure feasibility and cost efficiency.

This document includes the FEICA and Deutsche Bauchemie joint detailed position on the European Commission's proposal.

Publication ref.: POP-EX-L07-037

#construction

FEICA’s proposal to improve the protection of professional workers using the most harmful chemicals

The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability commits the Commission to ‘extend to professional users under REACH the level of protection granted to consumers’.  We understand that the European Commission’s rationale behind the extension of the generic approach to risk management (GRA) to professional uses lies in a general observation that professional users ‘cannot control risks from the presence of the most harmful chemicals in products’ and that ‘professional users are exposed to those chemicals in products in their daily lives and not only occasionally as consumers, there may be even more need to protect them’. We strongly believe that these two statements cannot be generically applied to all professional users and/or all products used by professional users containing  ‘most harmful substances’.

Below is FEICA’s proposal to improve the protection of professional workers using the most harmful chemicals. The proposal illustrates ways to improve the protection of professional workers other than generic substance bans without a risk assessment having been performed.

Publication ref.: POP-EX-L07-040

#hazardousproducts