Sustainability

“Green” is so much more than a color at Oregon Door

Being located in the heart of America’s Northwest, we appreciate the beauty of this great region and understand the responsibility a manufacturer must play as a good steward of the environment. Environmental responsibility is at the heart of our company’s ethos and we continually strive to be the leader in providing sustainable solutions for all opening needs.
You see, we don’t just work in this world–we live in it, too. We know that a healthy environment and healthy business practices go hand in hand. That’s why we take every possible step toward promoting an environmentally conscious workplace and ensuring that our products meet the strictest green building standards.

The team at Oregon Door is working every day to become our industry’s leader in socially responsible practices and to conduct our business in a manner that demonstrates environmental stewardship.

Our Commitment

In late 2015 our team set an audacious goal: To become the most environmentally-responsible manufacturer of flush wood and FRP doors on the planet!

Not one of the best. Not almost the best. But to really, truly, become the absolute best in our industry!

While sustainability has always been important to us, this crazy goal has introduced us to a whole new ball game. Where we might have once waited for end-user demand or simply taken steps to keep up with the competition, we are now working every day and in every department to find ways to directly reduce our impact on the environment. This is sometimes simple, like reducing use of paper or ensuring team member compliance with recycling initiatives. Often it is more complex, like working with suppliers to find more sustainable adhesives or sourcing best in class finishing systems that eliminate release of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and hazardous air pollutants (HAP).

On occasion, we’ve found that what seemed to be complex became simple when we found the right resource, like converting part of our power supply to green energy. We’ve come to realize that we need help from experts in sustainability if we’re going to reach our crazy goal, so we’ve reached out and began to partner with respected firms and organizations like thinkstep, UL Environment, Pacific Power Blue Sky Renewable Energy, and more.

While we realize this audacious goal is not an easy one to achieve, we are committed to doing everything we can to make it happen!

Operations and Initiatives

Company Green Team

The Oregon Door Green Team champions and leads our sustainability efforts. With representatives from all operational units and departments, this team is empowered to identify areas for improvement and take action to correct deficiencies. During 2016, the team has chosen as its main initiative implementation of the Oregon Energy Trust’s Strategic Energy Management program designed to significantly reduce company energy use.

Waste Reduction

Waste drives cost. It’s a simple tenet of business. Oregon Door wastes as little as possible to keep overhead low and ensure we deliver you superior products at a competitive price. All potential waste is carefully monitored and reused/recycled whenever possible, and every effort is made to find creative solutions to divert waste from landfill sites.

Renewable Energy Conversion

Through a partnership with the Pacific Power Blue Sky Renewable Energy program, Oregon Door currently sources 58% of its power from renewable energy sources. While this percentage has earned our company Visionary status, the highest level available, from the Blue Sky Renewable Energy program and helped us become an EPA Green Power Partner, we are committed to doing more. Our team is currently investigating options to reduce our reliance on non-renewable energy sources as economically as possible.

Energy Management

Energy use is a major source of carbon emissions and the environmental damage that they cause as well as a significant cost of doing business. Implementation of a comprehensive strategic energy management program is helping our team identify operations and maintenance changes that can make a big difference in our company’s energy use. Working with Energy Trust of Oregon, this initiative is already showing results in reducing both our carbon footprint and costs.

Environmentally-Responsible Material Sourcing

Responsible sourcing means looking at what we purchase beyond the traditional aspects of cost, quality and consistent supply. From the forests where many of our raw materials are grown to the suppliers that help us create a superior product, managing our supply chain is critical to the success of our business. At Oregon Door, we work to ensure that we source the most environmentally-responsible materials and use our relationships within our supply chains to ensure that those we work with operate ethically and responsibly.

Best in Class Finish System

Traditionally, the door finish system has been the chief source of emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Oregon Door is proud to have implemented a best in class factory finish systems that uses only water-based stains and UV-cured topcoats. This not only provides our clients with a great looking, durable finish, it also eliminates most HAPs and VOCs that other finish materials can emit into the atmosphere.

Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is a systematic method for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing system. Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden and waste created through unevenness in workloads. Essentially, lean is centered on making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else. At Oregon Door, we are constantly adapting our manufacturing techniques and processes to take full advantage of lean manufacturing concepts and their reduction of waste. This adds value to our products, providing our clients with the best possible results at the lowest price possible in the most environmentally responsible manner.

Materiality Assessment

Conducting a materiality assessment helps companies determine where to focus their energy and resources and what activities matter most from a sustainability perspective. Oregon Door is working with thinkstep to complete our materiality assessment. This will in help us identify and prioritize the environmental issues that are most important to our stakeholders and most relevant to our business. It will also help validate our existing sustainability strategies and allow us to make changes when and where they are needed.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Life-cycle assessment is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life. LCAs help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental concerns by: (1) compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases; (2) evaluating the potential impacts associated with identified inputs and releases; and (3) interpreting the results to help make a more informed decision. The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental effects assignable to products and services by quantifying all inputs and outputs of material flows and assessing how these material flows have an impact on the environment. Oregon Door is currently completing an LCA for our complete manufacturing process and will use this information to improve processes, support policy and provide a sound basis for informed decisions.

LEED and other Green Building Rating Systems

Oregon Door products comply with and provide credit assistance toward a variety of green building rating systems. Oregon Door’s specially-trained, in-house sustainability specialists are always available to assist you in navigating the complexities of green building rating systems at sustainability@oregondoor.com.

LEED®

Probably the best known rating system is LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™. This is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the U.S. Green Building Council representing all segments of the building industry developed LEED and continue to contribute to its evolution.

Currently two versions of LEED are active: LEED 2009/v3 and LEED v4.

LEED 2009 (sometimes referred to as LEED v3) is the LEED version that most of the marketplace is familiar. In this version, recycled content, regional materials, rapidly renewable materials, certified wood and low-emitting materials credits are all relevant to architectural wood and FRP doors. Building projects were able to be registered under this version through October 31, 2016. It’s important to note that registering a LEED project comes near the beginning stage of the construction process, so a building registered in October 2016 may not be completed until many months later. As long as a LEED 2009 project was registered by the deadline, it may seek certification under that rating system through June 2021.

LEED v4 was launched in November 2013, and since November 2016 is the only version of LEED under which new projects can be registered. Under this version, the way that doors provide LEED credit assistance has changed significantly. In LEED v4 the following credits are most relevant to Oregon Door products:

Energy and Atmosphere (EA)

  • Energy Performance and Optimization (BD+C, ID+C, O+M)
  • Minimum Energy Performance (BD+C, ID+C, O+M)

Materials and Resources (MR)

  • Building Product Disclosure and Optimization (BD+C, ID+C)
  • Construction Waste Management (BD+C, ID+C)
  • Purchasing – Facility Maintenance and Renovation (O+M)
  • Solid Waste Management – Facility Maintenance and Renovation (O+M)

Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)

  • Indoor Air Quality Strategies (BD+C, ID+C)
  • Low-Emitting Materials (BD+C, ID+C)
  • Acoustic Performance (BD+C, ID+C)
  • Daylight and Quality Views (BD+C, ID+C, O+M)

For more information please see our LEED v4 Brochure.

CALGreen

The California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) is not a green building rating system. Rather it is Part 11 of the California Building Standards Code and is the first statewide “green” building code in the US.

The purpose of CALGreen is to improve public health, safety and general welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use of building concepts having a reduced negative impact or positive environmental impact and encouraging sustainable construction practices in the following categories: (1) planning and design, (2) energy efficiency, (3) water efficiency and conservation, (4) material conservation and resource efficiency, and (5) environmental quality.

All Oregon Door products are CALGreen compliant, third-party tested, and certified GREENGUARD and GREENGUARD Gold.

Green Globes

Green Globes is an online green building rating and certification tool that is used primarily in the US and Canada. Green Globes was developed by ECD Energy and Environment Canada, an arms-length division of JLL. Green Globes is licensed for use by BOMA Canada (Existing Buildings) and the Green Building Initiative in the USA (New and Existing Buildings).

There are Green Globes modules for: new construction/significant renovations, commercial interiors (i.e. office fit-ups), and existing buildings (offices, multi-residential, retail, health care, light industrial).

The Green Globes new construction assessment can be used for a wide range of commercial, institutional and multi-residential building types including offices, school, hospitals, hotels, academic and industrial facilities, warehouses, laboratories, sports facilities and multi-residential buildings.

Oregon Door products comply with all Green Globes requirements and can assist your project in receiving certification.

Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge™ is a building certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that seeks to define the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions it seeks.

The Challenge is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy.

Complete transparency of material ingredients and non-use of red list chemicals are major requirements for doors used in Living Building Challenge projects.

Oregon Door has so far successfully supplied doors to several Living Building Challenge projects and has four current Declare labels published.

Other Sustainability Rating Systems and Standards

The requirements for sustainable design are constantly-evolving and ever-changing. Please contact one of Oregon Door’s specially-trained, in-house sustainability specialists at sustainability@oregondoor.com for more information on green building rating systems and the role doors play in sustainability.

GREENGUARD Certifications

All Oregon Door products are GREENGUARD and GREENGUARD Gold Certified. This third-party certification assures our doors are low-emitting and contribute to healthy indoor environments.

GREENGUARD Certification establishes acceptable indoor air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings. GREENGUARD Gold Certification offers stricter certification criteria, considers safety factors to account for sensitive individuals (such as children and the elderly), and ensures that a product is acceptable for use in environments such as schools and healthcare facilities.

Testing is conducted in stainless steel environmental chambers expertly designed and constructed for measuring trace contaminants. Certified products are rigorously tested for chemical emissions using proven, scientifically verified protocols, ensuring improved public health and quality of life through improved indoor air.

GREENGUARD certified products are referenced standards in numerous sustainable building initiatives including: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®), Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC), Sustainable Building Industry Council (SBIC) and many others. For more information on the GREENGUARD Certification Program emission standards visit greenguard.org.

Access our GREENGUARD® and GREENGUARD Gold® certificates via UL Spot or our sustainability documentation page.

Extended Producer Responsibility–Product Reuse

Oregon Door offers an extended producer responsibility (EPR) product reuse program that encourages environmentally responsible practices for processing and disposing of doors and frames that have reached the end of their useful life. This provides reuse, repurposing and/or recycling of door products that have reached the end of their initial life cycle and are not set for incorporation into a project’s building reuse efforts.

Details here: EPR Product Reuse

FSC® Chain of Custody

Oregon Door is Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) Chain-of-Custody (COC) certified (SCS-COC-000588) promoting responsible forest management.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. FSC Chain of Custody (COC) is the path taken by raw materials, processed materials and products, from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

The main objective of FSC COC certification is to ensure that FSC certified material is tracked through the supply chain between operations and production processes within operations. Only FSC COC certified operations are allowed to label products with the FSC trademarks.

A certified Chain of Custody up to the final point of sale enables end customers to identify and choose FSC certified products knowing there is a system in place to verify the sources of the wood used to manufacture the products. The FSC label thus provides the link between responsible production and consumption.

Almost all Oregon Door products are available as FSC certified.

Certificate Code: SCS-COC-000588 | Trademark License Code: FSC-C012639

Oregon Door FSC Chain of Custody Certificate

Certifications & Declarations

Transparency is the latest focus when it comes to green building. Oregon Door is committed to be as transparent as absolutely possible when it comes to our company’s and our products’ environmental impact. We are currently working with the experts at thinkstep, a global leader in sustainability, to comprehensively analyze and quantify our processes, materials, use of resources, and carbon footprint. This will help us identify where we can do better and also provide important data from all interested stakeholders.

We are also working hard to create valued sustainability reports and declarations. Access our Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), Health Product Declarations (HPD), Declare labels and other certifications here or via Sustainable Minds.


Access our transparency documents at transparencycatalog.com or via our sustainability documentation page.