Summer 2025 Thoughts from our Board Chair

by | Jun 2, 2025 | Announcement, News, Staff and Board

Mike Manzi

A book I’m reading (Nexus, by Yuval Noah Harari) has me thinking about the nature of information, especially its relationship to the truth. After all, the HPD’s fundamental purpose is to provide truthful health information about building products in support of our core mission to reduce and eliminate the use of toxic chemicals. Furthermore, the AIA Materials Pledge asks us to consider the full truth of building materials.
 
While just one of its five pillars, I consider Human Health to be the overarching concern of the Pledge and of Sustainability itself. In the end, we care about climate, ecosystems, and social fairness primarily for their impacts on Human wellbeing.
 
In this, as in other contexts, the truth is hard. It would be far easier to pretend all that matters is durability, aesthetics, and cost, or to just focus on what’s simplest to quantify. But despite the complexity, the nuance, and the occasional contradictions, it all matters.
 
The truth is uncomfortable. It forces us to think about the fact that various portions of the building material industry, as it exists today, make people at all lifecycle stages sick, is dangerously warming our climate, and forces children into hard labor.
 
The truth is elusive. Despite great strides over the past decade, there is much we still don’t know. As just one example, consider recent work by HPDC to uncover PFAS (link) when it exists below the 100-ppm threshold of most disclosure protocols.
 
Nevertheless, the truth is essential. We will never achieve the stable climate, diverse and robust biomes, or fairness that humans need to thrive by ignoring some parts of it. HPDC recognizes this and is committed to expanding our data gathering and sharing tools to capture the full breadth of these factors.
 
Finally, the truth is not free. Manufactures have spent enormous sums gathering supply chain data, certifying products, and researching safer alternatives in the years since the design community started demanding this information. They have also strongly supported HPDC, which has led the development of a harmonized and collaborative ecosystem, built supportive tools, and collected data on thousands of building products. But we no longer have the grant funding that largely made this possible. We will not stop pursuing the truth, but our capacity to do that at the urgent pace needed is now dependent on robust support and engagement from the design community.
 
If not already involved, please join HPDC and start doing something today.
 
 
Mike Manzi
Bora Architecture & Interiors
HPDC Launches PFAS Attestation Feature to Support Safer Material Choices

HPDC Launches PFAS Attestation Feature to Support Safer Material Choices

by | Apr 18, 2025 | Announcement, News, Press Release

The Health Product Declaration® Collaborative (HPDC) has introduced a new PFAS Attestation feature, designed to enhance transparency and support industry efforts to reduce the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in building products.

This feature gives manufacturers clear guidance on how to disclose the presence—or intentional absence—of PFAS in their products, using a standardized attestation format. It supplements the standard ingredient reporting formats available in Health Product Declaration reports, to provide greater precision in the reporting of PFAS ingredients. This is an example of the responsive and continual improvement that the HPDC Technical Committee supports to enhance transparency and health in material selection for both manufacturers and project design teams.

To support implementation, HPDC has also released new PFAS Best Practice Guidance documents. These resources help manufacturers and project teams better understand PFAS-related disclosure and integrate safer material choices into their practices.

An overview video is available here:

🎥 Watch the PFAS Attestation Overview Video

“The PFAS Attestation feature is a powerful tool for manufacturers to provide greater transparency about their product ingredients,” said Wendy Vittori, Executive Director of HPDC. “It empowers product manufacturers and design teams to respond proactively to growing interest in how and where PFAS ingredients are in use.”

Access the PFAS Attestation guidance and best practices at:

👉 http://www.hpd-collaborative.org/pfas-best-practice/

About HPDC

The Health Product Declaration Collaborative is a not-for-profit, member organization of over 300 companies dedicated to the continuous improvement of the building industry’s performance through transparency and innovation in product ingredient and health-related information disclosure.

 

HPDC Launches PFAS Attestation Feature to Support Safer Material Choices

Introduction to the Material Health ToolSuite [Webinar]

by | Mar 12, 2025 | Announcement, News, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events

We’d like to invite you to a special live webinar: “Introduction to the Material Health ToolSuite”. This free session will demonstrate how our ToolSuite can fundamentally improve your material health practice.

Why attend? In just 30 minutes, you’ll:  

See the ToolSuite in action

We’ll do a live walkthrough showing how manufacturers can quickly create or update HPDs, and how project teams can easily find and use material health data.

Learn best practices

Our experts will share tips on streamlining your workflow and avoiding common pitfalls in material health reporting.

Ask the experts

We’ll have a Q&A to answer your specific questions about using the ToolSuite in your role.

Whether you’re just starting with HPDs or you’ve been using them for a while, this webinar will offer insights to make your job easier and your projects healthier. It’s an essential primer for anyone aiming to leverage the latest tools in material health.

Details:
Thu, Mar 13
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM MDT
Online event
Register

HPDC Technical Committee Members: Call for Applications

by | Jan 21, 2025 | Announcement

Call for Applications:  HPDC Technical Committee Members

Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC) is seeking applicants for membership on the HPDC Technical Committee. The deadline for Technical Committee applications is Friday, 30 January 2026 at 5 pm PST.

The HPDC Technical Committee is a 19-member group that takes the leadership role in setting and driving HPDC’s technical agenda, working together with the HPDC Board of Directors and HPDC Staff team. Composed of a diverse set of senior industry experts, the Committee directs the maintenance and evolution of the HPDC Open Standard and associated technical deliverables. In support of these critical outputs, the Committee will establish and maintain processes and procedures under which such technical work is conducted and governed. As provided in the HPDC Bylaws, final approval and ratification of the HPD Open Standard is the domain of the HPDC Board of Directors.

As needed, the HPDC Technical Committee forms and manages sub-groups around particular technical topics. The Technical Committee also provides ongoing guidance and counsel to the Board of Directors and HPDC Staff team around technical matters pertaining to the HPDC mission and operating plan.

Members of the HPDC Technical Committee are appointed by the HPDC Board of Directors, on an annual basis, for terms of two years. Individual members qualify for membership on the Technical Committee if they are duly appointed representatives of HPDC General Member organizations, as follows:

  • Up to 7 representatives from General Members from the user category
  • Up to 2 representatives from General Members from the manufacturer category
  • Up to 2 representatives from General Members from the ecosystem category
  • Up to 2 representatives from General Members from the community category
  • Up to 1 representative from General Members as a flex category, drawn from any member category

There is also a provision for the appointment of domain/subject matter experts, who are duly appointed members of either General or Affiliate HPDC Member organizations, or are otherwise authorized by the HPDC Board of Directors.

  • Up to 5 representatives with particular domain/subject matter expertise, with criteria determined by the Board of Directors (note: domain expert criteria can be found below)

At this time, the HPDC Board of Directors is seeking applicants for 10 Technical Committee seats.

Application Requirements – General Member Seats

To apply for one of the available General Member seats on the Technical Committee – 3 seats for user category members, 1 seat for manufacturer category members, 0 seat for ecosystem category members, 2 seats for community category members, and 1 flex seat – individuals should meet the following criteria:

  • To apply, an individual must be a duly appointed representative of a General Member of HPDC, and in the appropriate category (i.e., a user category member may only run for a user category seat)
  • Applicants shall have some or all of the following capabilities and experience:
    • Demonstrated record of responsibility in one or more positions of decision-making authority in organizations working within the built environment in industry, NGO or governmental sectors.
    • Demonstrated expertise and experience in one or more of the following areas:
      • Materials science, materials chemistry
      • Materials alternatives assessment, product innovation
      • Transparency and disclosure strategies/ challenges/ tools
      • Toxicology, human health effects
      • Authoritative hazard lists, screening lists
      • Product supply chain management, data collection, optimization
      • Building product specification
      • Sustainable design and development
      • Design for occupant health and wellness
    • Ability to make and regularly meet the time commitment for an HPDC Technical Committee member
      • Attendance at one call per month of one hour each.
      • Offline review of materials as needed between calls.
      • Participation in special calls as needed.
      • Participation in face-to-face meetings if scheduled.
    • Prior experience serving on a technical steering committee or standards board within an industry association or standards setting organization is highly desired.

Application Requirements – Domain/Subject Matter Expert Seats

To apply for one of the 3 available Domain/Subject Matter expert seats on the Technical Committee, individuals should meet the following criteria:

  • An applicant is typically a duly appointed representative of an HPDC member organization (either General or Affiliate). If neither at the time of application, you may still apply for this role. In this case, please state why your qualifications should be considered for authorization to hold this position by the HPDC Board of Directors.
  • Demonstrated deep expertise and experience in one or more of the following areas:
    • Materials science, materials chemistry
    • Materials alternatives assessment, product innovation
    • Transparency and disclosure strategies/ challenges/ tools
    • Toxicology, human health effects
    • Authoritative hazard lists, screening lists
    • Product supply chain management, data collection, optimization
    • Building product specification
    • Sustainable design and development
    • Design for occupant health and wellness
  • Ability to make and regularly meet the time commitment for an HPDC Technical Committee member
    • Attendance at one call per month of one hour each.
    • Offline review of materials as needed between calls.
    • Participation in special calls as needed.
    • Participation in face-to-face meetings if scheduled.

Application Process

To apply for a seat on the HPDC Technical Committee, please complete the online application form.  Completed forms must be submitted no later than 5 pm PST on Friday, 30 January 2026. All submitted forms will be acknowledged upon receipt.

Appointment Process and Timing

The HPDC Board of Directors appoints the members of the HPDC Technical Committee. The Board will make the initial Technical Committee appointments during its meeting in February 2026. All applicants will be notified soon thereafter.

Questions

Questions about the Board of Directors nominations or the Technical Committee applications processes may be directed to membership@hpd-collaborative.org.

Interested parties may also contact Cory White, HPDC’s Technical Director at cwhite@hpd-collaborative.org.