A project of ours has decided to use wool carpet, and we'd like to be able to take credit for biobased materials. We’d like to explore the "manufacturer-declared conformance to the SAN Sustainable Agriculture Standard" approach. Would it work if the manufacturer claim it in their product data that the wool fibers being supplied to make the carpet have Sustainable Agriculture Network confirmation?
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Nadav Malin
CEOBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
844 thumbs up
October 3, 2018 - 3:36 pm
Hi Amy,
It's unlikely that the manufacturer is using wood that's SAN-certified, but you might still be able to make this work under the self-certification option. The manufacturer can self-certify that they are meeting the standard--specifics on how they would have to do that are listed here on "LEEDuser's Viewpoint" and in the Reference Guide.
Joanna Switzer
Sustainability Project ManagerAtkins
59 thumbs up
October 4, 2018 - 9:32 am
Hi Amy,
I don't see any posted addenda to expand on or revise the Reference Guide language you are citing. As such, sounds like a manf statement SHOULD suffice to claim this toward credit performance. However, from the limited info I found on the SAN website, it seems the org and its "SAF" framework is heavily focused on sustainable farming issues - soil/chemicals/harvesting practices....so perhaps less likely Wool suppliers are actively adopting this relatively new framework/best practice guideline yet.
As a Plan B, may be worth seeing if Manf can attest in writing what minimum percentage of their wool comes from Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified sources? http://responsiblewool.org/ - This program seems to meet the credit intent of sustainable agricultural management, but focused on wool/sheep herding considerations. Worth a try!