Pigments Achieve SCS Recycled Content Certification

Bayferrox yellow, red and black pigments from specialty chemicals company Lanxess have been recertified for pre-consumer recycled iron oxide content from SCS Global Services (SCS). The company first achieved certification from SCS for pre-consumer recycled iron oxide content in 2014 and, to date, remains the only iron oxide pigments producer to hold this accreditation.

SCS accessed yellow, red and black Bayferrox iron oxide pigments and verified the popular shades contain high percentages of recycled content. Using Bayferrox pigments with SCS certification for coloring concrete or other materials used in buildings allows project teams to factor in the pigments when calculating overall percentage of recycled content a building has, to support the implementation of a global green certification strategy.

“Lanxess is the only iron oxide pigments producer to qualify and offer the market SCS certification on the recycled content of its products. This means that the final product includes up to 92% recycled content. Our customers who have a LEED-driven purchasing strategy will benefit from this certification, while supporting a more sustainable environment,” says Hans-Peter Baldus, head of Lanxess Inorganic Pigments, Americas region. “We know that especially in locations like North America, Brazil and Europe, this is an important driver in the construction market, and we are proud to offer our customers this added value for their construction applications.”

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized green building program developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for buildings, homes and communities. The program guides the design, construction, operations and maintenance of buildings and is the most recognized and widely used third-party verification for green buildings in the world.

According to the USGBC, Green building is defined as an integrative process that focuses on the relationship between the built and natural environment. The foremost considerations of green building include the basic elements of energy use, water use, indoor environmental quality, material selection and the building’s effects on its site. The LEED green building rating system contains credit categories around those elements, acting as a framework for decision-making for project teams. Recycled content is one of the criteria in the materials and resources credit category.

Because of LEED, an entire green building industry has materialized, expected to be worth up to $248 billion in the US alone by 2016, according to the USGBC.