Environmental Requirements

Fitness for Purpose
Certified products should be good performers in their intended application. Certain standards of product performance are implicit in the label.
 

The nominated products have been found compliant with AS/ANZ 4859.1:2002 ‘Material for the Thermal Insulation of Building- General Criteria and Technical Provisions’.
As part of this assessment the product were also tested against the following standards:
• ASTM C167-98- ‘Standard test method for Thickness and Density of Blanket or Thermal Insulation.
• ASTM C653-97- ‘Standard Guide for Determination of the Thermal Resistance of Low Density Blanket Type Mineral Fibre Insulation.
• ASTM C518-02- ‘Standard test Method for Steady State Heat Flux Measurements and thermal Transmission Properties by Means of the Heat Flow Meter Apparatus.

The Rooty Hill NSW site is certified to ISO 9001:2000, while the Dandenong VIC site has suitable quality control measures in place. Both sites operate an internal testing laboratory. GECS is confident that Fletcher Insulation has Quality Management procedures in place that ensure fitness for purpose of each batch of insulation product.

Products are supplied to the consumer market with a minimum warranty for the life time of the building.
 

Material Requirements
Certified products shall meet the minimum resource efficiency requirements outlined below for recycled material content by weight.
 

Fletcher Insulation has made a strong commitment to reaching the minimum resource efficiency requirements outlined in this criterion. Currently, Fletcher Insulation’s Melbourne manufacturing site is only incorporating 60% glass wool due to a shortage in the market of non-plastic laminated post-consumer glass. The Rotty Hill site is incorporating 65% of recycled glass as required by this criterion.

Fletcher Insulation have made a commitment to increasing the amount of window glass once the issue is resolved to achieve a total of 65% recycled glass content in the products, and therefore maintain compliance to the requirements of this criterion.

A short term exemption of 9 months is provided to this site in view of the exceptional supply circumstances. The site is currently considering an investment into sorting facilities in order to ensure ongoing compliance to this criterion.

Compliance to this criterion has been verified by GECS through a site assessment, product formulations and delivery details for all glass in the pervious three months for both the Rooty Hill and Dandenong sites.
 

Production Waste Management
The manufacturer must have effective policies and procedures to minimize waste, including measures to recycle waste materials from the production process.
 

The manufacturing process of the nominated products has been carefully designed by Fletcher Insulation to create a minimal amount of off cuts; with less than 1.3% of the total yearly production by weight going to landfill.

Raw Materials
Sand and Rock
Non-recycled sand and rock for use as raw materials in mineral wools (e.g., glass, rock or slag) must come from an operation with a registered environmental remediation program, not be located in a National Park or within an endangered community as defined by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 List of Threatened Ecological Communities.
 

Neither mine site (Victoria and NSW sites) is located in a National Park or within an EEC (Ecologically Endangered Community), and it is a statutory requirement of the mine operator to establish a rehabilitation program as part of the site development approval. Based on a signed declaration and pictorial evidence of past rehabilitation works undertaken by the company, GECS is satisfied a commitment exists to rehabilitate the sites to a high standard.

Petrochemical Raw Materials
Non-recycled monomer or other petrochemical products for use as raw materials in insulation must be sourced from a production facility that complies with Section 4 of this Standard.
 

The manufacturer of the petrochemical components used in the product range is certified to ISO 14001. Compliance to the requirements of ISO 14001 represents compliance to legal environmental matters and therefore compliance to the requirements of this criterion. GECS reviewed ISO certificate (14001:2004) and crossed referenced this document through a web listing.

Timber and Natural Fibre Sources
(Refer to the Building Insulation Standard)
 

The Glasswool insulation products manufactured by Fletcher Insulation do not contain any timber; this criterion is therefore not applicable.

Hazardous Substances
Prohibited Substances
The following substances must not be used at any stage of production or be present in the finished product:

Polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants
Brominated paraffin flame retardants
Short-chain chlorinated paraffin flame retardants.
CFCs, HCFCs or HFCs
Tin, lead, mercury, cadmium or chromium-containing catalysts or additives
 

A review of all Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for production ingredients found none of the substances listed in this criterion to be included in the products. The use of these ingredients was verified through a review of product formulation and a site assessment of both manufacturing facilities.

Blowing Agents
Foam products shall not be manufactured using blowing agents with a global warming potential of more than 140, measured over a 100 year time-frame. Blowing agents must also have an ozone depletion potential (ODP) of zero. GECA accepts ODP and GWP figures for compounds as defined by the Montreal Protocol and its appendices.
 

Fletcher Insulation does not use blowing agents, this was confirmed during a site assessment of both the Rooty Hill and Dandenong sites and review of product formulations. This criterion is therefore not applicable.

 

Product Information
Insulation products must be labelled according to the requirements of AS 4859.1 - 2006 and provide the following additional information for product suppliers, installers and consumers:
The material that the thermal insulation product is manufactured from, including the percentage recycled content. For composite materials, the percentage of each material must be clearly labelled by mass or volume.
Maximum storage time or install-by date (if batch identification only is provided) for blanket and segment type insulation. If products are provided direct to the user from the manufacturer, then written storage instructions must also be provided to the user.
For compression packaged materials, the time after installation at which the product will have re-lofted to its nominal thickness if installed before the install-by date using the prescribed installation instructions.
Transportation and installation instructions, which, when followed, lead to the labelled thermal resistance being achieved.
 

GECS has received a sample of the packaging used by Fletcher Insulation and has reviewed its contents for compliance to this criterion. The packaging shows batch/production runs, weight, materials used and recycled content, R-value, safety instructions and installation instructions all in compliance to the requirements of this criterion.