mafi is tested and trusted

In general, our relation to certificates was and still is ambivalent to a certain degree. Too often we saw products on the market being certified as green and healthy which made it pretty clear that the certificates follow the “pay to win” principle. On the other hand we strongly believe that third party audits are needed and add value for customers AND manufacturers like us.

These tests require we submit an application and pay the out-of-pocket expenses of the examination pass or fail. These audits are stringent, time consuming and difficult to achieve and if we pass, we receive completion certificates. Often the certificates have an expiration date of less than 1 year. Every year we have been testing samples of production for air quality, we must reveal all of our ingredients, and finally verify our raw material sources. Even our waste recycling programs are verified.

The choice of which programs will produce these certifications is as important as the certificates themselves. We have chosen a few platforms that relate directly to the professionals who are interested to see our transparency initiatives but also we are invested in those programs themselves. We believe that which organizations we are connected with is also important to us. The ideals of mafi and the ideals of the certification programs should co-align. The following are the international groups we are deeply connected with.

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"The choice of which programs will produce these certifications is as important as the certificates themselves."

The Declare Red List label is a nutrition label for building products. It is within the database on the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) website, it allows manufacturers to demonstrate their transparency in the marketplace and it provides consumers with honest information for product selection.

This database is provided by ILFI as a tool for registered project teams. Products are not endorsed or certified by ILFI but by independent third parties. This label requires that the manufactured product, which is offered for consideration, will list all of the ingredients with the final product and furthermore, the ingredients therein are not listed on the public Red-List of toxic chemicals. In order to comply mafi hired an independent analytics company to test our product for 14 days in a controlled chamber. It was tested for presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s).

The test is to measure against the standards in California Department of Public Health (CDPH) standards for low emitting building materials. One of the organizations that perform this test is the firm Material Analytical Services (MAS). After the test was completed, MAS designated all of our products as MAS Certified Green. This means it exceeded the standards for the CDPH. This air quality test proves that the product is safe for indoor use.

A Health Product Declaration provides the documentation of a product for a specification writer to verify its healthy components. It doesn’t determine whether the final product is healthy or not, it simply outlines the ingredients within the product and its levels of toxicity. Then the writer can determine the value of the levels within the HPD compared to the projects sustainability or healthy building requirements.

Without the HPD, you can only find the ingredients by soliciting the manufacturer or reading the marketing materials for the product.  An HPD is a international document trusted by almost every architectural standard for building in commercial, residential, hospitality, healthcare and institutional environments.  

The mafi HPD clearly shows that no ingredients in our entire product line have toxins whatsoever. I would note that even though a company has an HPD, it is a good practice to determine what it's Part Per Million (ppm) levels are on all ingredients.

Environmental Product Declarations are becoming common and integral in healthy building specifications. This EPD document is a platform for manufacturers to outline its efforts on sustainable environmental practices by providing accurate resource procurement and production energy costs from Cradle to Grave for an entire material manufacture or for an individual product.

In the case of mafi, we performed a third party verified life cycle analysis on our entire production line which determined that our mafi floor, wall, and ceiling planks are Net Carbon Negative.

The EPD is also our way to show the numbers and to completely reveal to the architect or specifier how we produce and what the effects of that process are on our supply chain. Using as much renewable energy as possible as well as a zero-waste facility is how we have always made our natural products and the EPD is how we tell the story through data.

Download all available mafi EPDs here.

This non-profit organization founded in 2013 in Washington State USA has established rules and certifications to take the level of the USGBC into a much higher and focused platform for increasing human health and making a positive influence on environments, buildings and communities. The Living Building Challenge is the toughest method for certification for any building and it requires multiple levels of transparency and a large focus on renewable and regenerative practices.

Mafi is engaged in the Living Product Challenge, which is an audit of our manufacturing process to determine efficiency, proper product sourcing and socially just employee practices. Mafi is also transformative sponsors of the ILFI.

The living product challenge is the most stringent certification program available for products and their ingredients. It was developed by the International Living future Institute to create products that would help create a Living Building.  There are 7 Petals and a possible 20 Imperatives. The Living Product Challenge (LPC) is aimed to inspire manufacturers to make products, which are healthy, sustainable and create a net positive affect along with verifying that the workplace is equitable. Completing all 7 required petals and a total of 11 imperatives has inspired mafi. First, by proving some of our current production strategies are valid and sustainable but have challenged us in the future to achieve all 20 imperatives.  We are pleased to announce our Living Product Challenge certificate.

Mindful materials is an industry wide online materials library where product producers can display the certifications that are applicable to the sustainability market. MM allows a  pathway for architects to survey and enquire about products that are sustainability derived. The environmental certifications can be showcased and clients can qualify products based upon a number of criteria.

Mafi has 53 items in the library. Mafi shows that aligning with this platform that we want our entire information to be accessible for free to anyone who wants to see it. It also allows the thousands of users to access our certificates online. This is a helpful way for specifying agencies to select for the best product without having to call multiple companies and compare. Mindful Materials is a platform that saves time and is easy to use.

The USGBC is the original United States of America based green building certification non-profit organization founded in 1993. This council formulated, through scientific studies, outlined a  structure and certifications through Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (or LEED) for building green and sustainably. Their The focus of LEED and the USGBC is on building sites, building envelops, built environments, community structure, and energy efficiency and indoor environments.

mafi adheres to the general philosophy of LEED and the USGBC and promotes them by being Silver members. Using the certifications we have completed, architects and designers can use our natural products to achieve points that help to build better buildings and communities using the structure of the USGBC and LEED. Therefore mafi is a key component for better building through the USGBC and LEED platform.

✅ LBC 4.0 and LPC 2.0 - most stringent Certification in Building

✅ Third Party Verified Red List Free - Declare Label

✅ WELL compliant within materials concept in X05, X06, X07, X08, Mind concept M02, M07

✅ LEED v4.1 ID+C, BD+C – low-emitting materials

✅ CDPH Standard Method v1.2-2017 - interior performance

✅ CHPS 2019 Core Criteria 3.0 EQ C6.1.2 – flooring systems

✅ Criteria of MAS Certified Green Program – low-emitting material

✅ TVOC Emissions at 14-days – 0.5 mg/m³ or less

✅ PCRs comply with ISO 21930 and EN 15804

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Bonn, Germany the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) has 10 guiding principles for forest sustainability. This voluntary group was formed in response to unregulated forestry practices. FSC® has created a label, which proves that wood is harvested from a sustainably managed forest. Not only does this protect the trees it also includes systems and suggestions for proper forest ecosystems holistically.

The FSC® label is a difficult label to achieve. Part of the requirement is that all of the trees must be measured in order to maintain a legitimate label. Whatever wood is harvested must be tracked all the way through the entire supply chain, from the forest to the end-user to ensure complete raw material transparency. Nearly all of mafi products are already FSC® labeled. mafi relies on a healthy forest to thrive as a sustainable business. We rely on the FSC® to provide us with a transparent supply chain for raw material.

mafi offers its products FSC® certified by request. All Living Product Challenge certified mafi floors are FSC® certified as well.  

The Program for the Endorsement of Forest Conservation (PEFC) was formed in 1999. The formulation of this group was in response to small sustainably minded forest managers and smaller forest conservators who could not afford the FSC® membership and certification costs. PEFC is similar to the FSC® with one of the key differences being that the PEFC is more accessible for smaller forest owners and business. Both the FSC® and PEFC require a third party inspection by accredited companies to verify the sustainable harvesting and management of forests. Both The FSC® and PEFC, want to implement sustainable forest policy wherever possible.

mafi has a large group of local foresters which have small forest lots yet do a great job with management and stewardship. It is important for mafi to use only protected trees in our production and PEFC is a key component for those smaller managers and we want to use our local community sources as much as possible. PEFC makes this a reality for mafi.

The ENERGY GLOBE Award was founded in 1999 by the Austrian energy pioneer Wolfgang Neumann and is one of today’s most prestigious environmental awards.

The goal of the Award is to present successful sustainable projects to a broad audience, for many of our environmental problems already have good, feasible solutions. Producers that conserve and protect our resources or that employ renewable energy can participate.

With a global call for participation ENERGY GLOBE invites outstanding sustainable best practice businesses to participate in the annual competition. From all over the world, some 800 projects and initiatives are submitted annually to compete for the award.

There are 5 categories to participate Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Youth. Mafi won the award in 2011 in the fire category. mafi uses of our waste generated wood pellets which create heat and energy at our facility. Our commitment to waste reduction from our processes is captured from within and reduces the need of fossil fuels.

The "Resources SAVED by recycling" project, run by Interseroh, shows how efficient recycling helps to protect natural resources. It enables the calculation of mafi’s influence on natural resources (using the money it paid) and the amount invested in pro-ecological actions.

mafi uses only FSC® certified packaging and recycles all of our plastic and non organic packaging wastes from production and we were awarded the resources saved certificate year by year. On average this ends up in around 25,000 kg of resource saving every year. In addition to the resources themselves, the energy required in manufacturing and processing and their associated waste products are also calculated. With this you can determine that mafi had saved 3,222 kg of greenhouse gases year by year.

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