Småhus, flerbostadshus och förskolebyggnader - Svanen

Nordisk Miljømerking
Hus, leiligheter og barnehager 089/versjon 2
Høringssammenstilling, oppdatert 10. august 2010
2008. This strategy does not include any restrictions on the use of any zinc products,
including cladding and roofing. Instead, the strategy recognises that the observed elevated
levels in some locations in Europe are derived from point sources from industrial
installations, historical contamination and high background concentrations of geogenic
origin.
Indeed, releases from corrosion of zinc products during service life were carefully
assessed within the risk assessment process and no risks were associated to the use of
zinc in building applications. This included detailed evaluations of releases under current
atmospheric corrosivity and the fate of these releases. Notably, much of the information
on this aspect has been generated by the Royal Institute of Technology’s Department of
Corrosion Science in Stockholm. Moreover, zinc emissions to surface waters have
actually decreased drastically within past decades due to:
(1) the introduction of industrial on-site treatment plants;
(2) the introduction of municipal waste water treatment plants;
(3) better optimization of fertilizer usage
Zinc is a natural and essential element. It is present in water, air, soil and sediments and
may come from various sources – anthropogenic and natural. For example, a recent study
has investigated the different sources contributing to elevated zinc levels in the Ruhr river
basin, in Germany (Hüffmeyer et al. 2009). Results have shown that the most
contributing sources of zinc were coming from geogenic inputs (historical mining activity
together with elevated natural background concentrations). Indeed, the most
significant zinc emissions contributing to elevated zinc levels in water, as identified in
Risk Reduction Strategy are coming from point sources from industrial installations,
historical contamination from old industrialised areas, and high natural background
concentrations due to local geology.
There are many beneficial effects of using zinc in cladding and/or roofing. One of the
most important factors to be considered is probably zinc recyclability. Indeed, zinc is
100% recyclable and 95% of old rolled zinc is effectively recovered and reused in
different applications. The success of rolled zinc recycling is due to a very well structured
market and the high scrap value. The main users for rolled zinc scraps are secondary zinc
refiners, brass and oxide producers. Another important factor is zinc's life cycle
performance, which is measured relative to contributions to current worldwide priorities
like climate change, energy demand, and the consumption of natural resources. When
measured throughout the life cycle of zinc products, the global environmental
performance of zinc against these priorities has been demonstrated to be very good. Zinc
building products such as roofs and cladding can last for generations, and after their
useful life they can be recovered and re-used over and over again.
Among the requirements for the Nordic Ecolabelling, chemical building products must
not be classified. Zinc metal is not classified for any of the endpoints mentioned under
#O15 of the Nordic Ecolabelling document. Indeed, the release rate of zinc ions from
massive form is too small to warrant classification for human health or for the
environment. Therefore, according to this criterion, there is no reason to
113 (165)