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VINYL SIDING

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

 


Choosing sustainability means choosing efficiency. And vinyl siding is efficient at every stage, from its resource-conscious manufacturing to its simple maintenance and onward to its easy recycling. Vinyl siding manufacturers are making steady and conscious progress at every step to lessen this material’s carbon footprint. In fact, our carbon emissions have decreased 15% over the life cycle of vinyl siding in the past decade. That’s 9.8 kg of CO2 per 100 square feet. And we continue to invest in meaningful progress with our members to help address global warming with resilient and sustainable building materials1.

More efficiency, less impact on the environment

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Environmental Product Declarations

VSI is 100% committed to educating building professionals about how vinyl and polymeric sidings are a high performing, sustainable building material. These cladding products are one of the only exterior cladding options to be UL Certified and have published Environmental Product Declarations providing builders with objective and transparent information—browse them below.

 

Reduced Environmental Impact
Same Impressive Resiliency

VSI commissioned a life cycle inventory to assess progress made in the manufacturing processes for vinyl siding.

The industry's environmental impact reductions since 2011 include1:

22%
less electricity

33%
less natural gas

100%
less propane

 

Choosing Sustainable Materials

VSI is pleased to stand alongside leaders like Amazon, Google, Turner and more as sponsors of Building Transparency. We support Building Transparency’s core mission to provide the open access data and tools necessary to enable broad and swift action across the building industry in addressing embodied carbon’s role in climate change.

The organization’s Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), a free database of construction EPDs as well as a matching building impact calculator for use in design and material procurement, helps with making the right material choices, an important part of sustainability efforts.

 

Recycling

Recycling is the process of making new products from waste material, potentially reducing the landfill accumulation and incineration that lead to greenhouse gas emissions. Vinyl siding IS recyclable, contrary to what you may have heard. It is a thermoplastic that can be ground up repeatedly, re-melted and formed into a variety of new products even after the useful life of the product.

 

Enhance Your Knowledge

Gain a better understanding of the resiliency of polymeric cladding and earn CEU for credit with the American Institute of Architects in our free online, on-demand course through Hanleywood University.

Sustainability, Resiliency & Design: Polymeric Cladding

Examine the three pillars of sustainability and how building materials must be resilient.
Course credits: AIA 1 LU | HSW, Canada Potential 1 Learning Credit, PDH Potential 1 Hour

National Green Building Programs

Why get a National Green Building Certification? There are many reasons: increase in property value, qualify for tax credits, but most importantly, a building or community with NGBS certification recognizes green construction and adds a cost saving benefit from the amount of energy that will be saved over the lifespan of the structure, which will promote better occupancy rates.

Below are three nationally recognized programs that offer vinyl siding green credits.

Leadership in Energy
and Economic Design
(LEED)

National Green
Building Standard
(NGBS)

California Green
Building Code
(CalGreen)

Performance, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability / Recycling

There’s Recycling, and Then There’s Vinyl Siding Recycling!

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Performance, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability / Recycling

Proving Necessity Really is the Mother of Recycling Innovation

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Performance, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability / Building Codes and Product Certification

Achieving Energy Efficiency Through Polymeric Cladding

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Frequently Asked Questions

Find the information you need fast about the Vinyl Siding Institute’s work—in advocacy, workforce training and certification, building code resources, sustainability and more—in our Frequently Asked Questions.

  1. Based on industry Life Cycle Inventory and Analysis conducted in 2021 and 2016.
  2. Less impact illustrations based on Federal government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology Building for Environmental and Economic life cycle data and James Hardie’s environmental product declarations data.
  3. Comparisons based on Federal government’s Environmental Protection Agency www.fueleconomy.gov.