The analysis found that both SPF and fiberglass release pollution into BIPOC communities over their life cycles, but SPF carries a much heavier pollution burden. The combined population surrounding the facilities that manufacture the key ingredient of SPF has almost double the percentage of Latino people compared to the U.S. overall. These facilities reported releasing an average of about 560,000 pounds of related hazardous chemicals every year and have a history of noncompliance with EPA regulations. Our previous research also found that spray foam has significant hazardous chemical concerns during installation and use in buildings.

Regarding embodied carbon, while the specifics vary, studies (such as here, here, and here) consistently show that closed cell SPF has significantly higher embodied carbon per R-value than fiberglass insulation. Further, SPF is made from almost entirely fossil fuel-derived inputs, with no recovery, reuse, or recycling of the material—necessitating continued extraction and refining of fossil fuels to produce this insulation product. Overall, comparing material health, environmental justice, and embodied carbon impacts between SPF and fiberglass, fiberglass is preferable on all accounts. 

However, fiberglass manufacturing still releases hazardous pollution into communities who are disproportionately BIPOC and/or low income, and many fiberglass facilities have exhibited regular noncompliance with EPA regulations. Fiberglass manufacturers can reduce and eliminate such pollution by using less hazardous chemistries. For example, all four U.S. manufacturers reported reduced releases of formaldehyde by changing to safer binder formulations for many of their products between 2002 and 2015.   

Why It Matters
As laid out in the Equitable and Just National Climate Platform:

“To achieve our [climate] goals, we will need to overcome past failures that have led us to the crisis conditions we face today. Past failures include the perpetuation of systemic inequalities that have left communities of color, tribal communities, and low-income communities exposed to the highest levels of toxic pollution and the most burdened and affected by climate change. The defining environmental crisis of our time now demands an urgency to act. Yet this urgency must not displace or abandon the fundamental principles of democracy and justice…Unless justice and equity are central components of our climate agenda, the inequality of the carbon-based economy will be replicated in the new economy.”

To truly be part of a just and equitable transition to a clean economy, climate solutions like building insulation must advance the well-being of BIPOC and low-income communities. We recommend that embodied chemical and environmental justice impacts drive material decision-making on par with consideration of GHG emissions. 

Your Action Today = Healthier, More Just Future
In general, there are significant opportunities to improve the life cycle of building insulation materials through avoiding hazardous chemicals, implementing circularity, and taking other actions stemming from the principles of green chemistry and environmental justice.

Manufacturers and policymakers should advance transparency about what is in a product, how and where it is made, and the hazardous releases that occur throughout its life cycle. In the meantime, those who choose building materials can start by avoiding hazardous chemicals in a product’s content to help protect not only building occupants and installers, but also others impacted by those hazardous chemicals throughout the supply chain. Our InformedTM product guidance can help you choose safer materials.

All stakeholders–including manufacturers, policymakers, and those who choose building materials–should support the leadership of frontline communities and make changes to their own practice so that all families have healthy places to live, learn, work, and play.

The original Charter was created in 2004; at that time, HBN joined a broad coalition of grassroots, labor, health, and environmental justice groups in an extensive process initiated by community organizations in Louisville, KY. Louisville’s “Rubbertown” area hosted 11 industrial facilities that released millions of pounds of toxic air emissions every year. The Charter was named in honor of this city and all of the communities across the nation exposed to toxic chemical contamination—starting with the people who are harmed first and worst. We participated in the 2021 update process, supporting the efforts of the most heavily impacted communities to more explicitly address the chemical industry’s massive contribution to the climate crisis, and the need to advance environmental justice in communities who are disproportionately impacted.

The Louisville Charter is a unifying guide for everyone working to ensure that toxic chemicals are no longer a source of harm, from local and national policy-makers and labor organizers, to health care workers and concerned community members, to committed leaders in the building industry. It is meant to be versatile and used in a wide variety of contexts for one overarching purpose: to overhaul chemical policies in favor of safety, health, equity, and justice, and avoid false solutions that simply shift harms to other people and places.

HBN is proud to be a signatory of the Charter and join this diverse and intersectional community of partners  demanding urgent action to protect, strengthen, and restore our most vulnerable communities.

After ventilating the student housing building in Minneapolis, the city’s initially “high chemical readings” dropped. According to the Minnesota Daily article, the city’s inspections show the levels are now safe. Meanwhile, one of the workers who was initially sickened by the incident was an independent contractor and therefore ineligible for workers’ compensation for the symptoms he is still experiencing months later. This and future incidents are preventable. Safer selection of materials begins with product transparency.

Market Influence

A similar policy change led by the retailer in 2015, banning phthalates from all vinyl flooring it sells, was quickly adopted by all other major retailers such as Lowes, Menards, and Lumber Liquidators. Similarly, when Lowes led the industry in banning the sale of deadly paint strippers in May, 2018, its major competitors followed suit within months

Class approach to chemicals

PFAS refers to a class of nearly 15,000 that repel liquids and resist sticking, including well-known brands such as Teflon, Gore-Tex, Stainmaster and Scotchgard. Many brands have stopped using the most well studied, “long-chain” compounds in this class, but continue to use less studied “short-chain” compounds, causing confusion for consumers. Independent scientists agree that a commitment to avoiding all PFAS is the right approach for consumers and the overall environment.

Widespread PFAS Contamination of the Environment Is a Growing Concern. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has identified over 700 sites where PFAS were detected and cited federal data suggesting that up to 110 million Americans may have PFAS in their drinking water.1 HBN’s analysis of chlorine and PVC production documented unexpectedly high use of PFAS as an alternative to mercury- and asbestos-based chlorine manufacturing technology, raising new concerns about the role of chlorine-based products and the growing concern over global PFAS exposures. The chemical industry argues that only a few of these compounds have been found unsafe, and all others should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In 2019, 3M company launched a major public relations blitz2 to this effect, including a “PFAS Facts” website advocating that “Each PFAS compound needs to be evaluated based upon its own properties,”3 a process that would take federal regulators, at best, many decades to complete. EWG published a thorough refutation of 3M’s claims,4 and more than 250 independent scientists5 have called upon companies and regulators to stop producing and using PFAS except in the most essential applications. The Home Depot’s new carpet and rug policy, which we hope will soon be extended to other products including spray-on upholstery protection, such as 3M’s Scotchgard, follows this recommended class approach.

The Home Depot’s new policy commitment comes just two months before the release of the 2019 “Who’s Minding the Store?” Retailer Report Card, from the Mind the Store campaign, a nationwide coalition that challenges retailers to eliminate toxic chemicals and substitute safer alternatives. HBN is a coalition member and advised The Home Depot on its 2017 Chemical Strategy. The annual Report Card benchmarks retailers on their safer chemicals policies and implementation programs. The Home Depot earned a B- on the scorecard.

To learn more about PFAS and how to avoid them, watch the documentary The Devil You Know, available on all streaming services, and check out the new PFAS Central website, a project of our partners at the Green Science Policy Institute.