Hand Dryer Makers Aim For Environmental Transparency

UL Environment, a business division of Underwriters Laboratories, has published the first global Product Category Rule for hand dryers. The new rules are the first step in developing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which establish a consistent method for evaluating the environmental impact claims of all products in a specific industry. The EPD process will allow hand dryer specifiers and purchasers to evaluate products’ environmental impacts from an ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison that follows ISO International Standards. A consortium of hand dryer manufacturers collaborated in the creation of the PCR to provide the industry with evaluation standards.

“We applaud the hand dryer industry’s efforts to develop this PCR because it is a big first step in providing transparency for hand dryers,” says Anna Nicholson, product manager-Environmental Product Declarations at UL Environment and PCR project manager. “The project was initiated by Excel Dryer and supported by World Dryer and FASTDRY (Hokwang Industries), who were instrumental in obtaining the consensus that we needed to publish this first-of-its-kind global PCR.”

UL Environment has worked with industries to issue nine PCRs, with five more in development, and has certified nearly 600 EPDs for manufacturers. To produce an EPD, companies must first develop a lifecycle assessment for their product that addresses product specific calculations and requirements.

The new global PCR for hand dryers can be found here.