Industry continues to watch CARB closely
New formaldehyde rules will have major impact
Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, October 29, 2008
HIGH POINT — Ongoing developments concerning California's new formaldehyde standards continue to be watched closely by the furniture industry.
The far-reaching California Air Resources Board regulation decreases the amount of formaldehyde that can emitted from composite panel sold in that state as either raw board or in a finished product.
 Bill Perdue |
Bill Perdue, vice president for environmental affairs for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, has given a presentation on the CARB regulations more than 70 times, including at a three-hour session last week in Greensboro, N.C., that drew some 70 attendees.
In less than 80 days, the composite panel producers that furniture makers depend on will no longer be able to make panels for sale in California without having first obtained third-party certification from a laboratory saying their facilities produce compliant board.
The rule is likely to become a de facto standard worldwide, said Perdue. He added that by 2012, when the second phase of compliance with further reduced formaldehyde content takes effect, there may be few makers of composite panel that use urea formaldehyde resin glues to mold leftover wood waste into boards.
For furniture retailers and manufacturers, the rules won't be enforced until July 1, 2010. After then, they are required to produce and sell only products that contain panel that has been deemed CARB-compliant.
Compliance will start at retail stores, which will have to have documentation that traces the supply chain back to the board producer. Everyone along the supply chain - board supplier, manufacturer and retailer - is held responsible and liable, Perdue said.
CARB will require the retailer to produce chain-of-custody documents. Without them, the retailer could be punished for violating regulations.
 CARB formaldehyde label |
The new regulations, which will limit formaldehyde emissions from composite wood panels - hardwood plywood, particleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF), materials that are commonly used in furniture - have proven taxing for the supply chain in Southeast Asia.
The rules cover everything in a store, from kiosks, lamp bases and accent items to the board used in case goods and by upholstered furniture frames. Even pallets used in shipping are covered.
With furniture, each piece, or the boxes the goods are delivered in, must have a label indicating that the furniture complies with CARB specifications.
Perdue noted that for AHFA members, California represents $4.7 billion in sales, or almost 13% of the total.
And, Perdue said, 20% of furniture sold in California is sold to non-retailers, or avenues of distribution that may include buying containers and selling them as floor displays. The AHFA continues to argue that time is running out and demands on the supply chain are too great.
The AHFA last month asked for an 18-month delay in the rule and asked that in the interim, board certified to the E1 European standard be accepted.
The AHFA estimates the volume of products that contain composite panel for the California market is 1.4 billion square feet. It said the cost to have that certified through the CARB process is between $6.6 and $13.2 million and will require between 13,200 and 26,400 samples to be tested.
The AHFA said capital investments by composite panel makers will total between $42.7 and $67.5 million to install infrastructure to satisfy certification requirements.
Another roadblock for furniture importers involves the lack of certified testing labs in China, Vietnam and the Philippines. None have been approved as a third-party certifiers.
Few mills in Asia have been certified. While more than 40 U.S. and Canadian mills have been certified, according to CARB, six are listed for China, five are listed for Indonesia and two are listed in Malaysia.
According to the AHFA's delay request, third-party certifiers are quoting charges of $50,000 to $100,000 to mills to certify a board mill, plus another $25,000 for necessary equipment to implement the in-house testing. The AHFA said members report that it takes 77 days to complete the certification process.
CARB believes there are thousands of composite panel makers around the world, with at least 10,000 hardwood plywood plants and hundreds of particleboard plants in China alone.
One big point in Perdue's presentation last week was that suppliers must not confuse composite panel that adheres to the E1 European standard, which is a content-based rule, and the new CARB P1 standard, which is an emissions-based rule.
In an interview, CARB officials said that while E1 board may meet the requirements for CARB-certified board, the rule still requires third-party certification.
"A board stamped as E1 would not be considered as a compliant product for purposes of the California regulation," said Brent Takemoto, staff air pollution specialist for CARB.
In an interview in July, Aspenhome vice president of import manufacturing Bill Reece said the company has been working on compliance with the regulation since January.
Reece said that keeping records will be the key to compliance, since enforcement is based on chain-of-custody documentation of emissions testing.
"The paper trail is going to be the key to success in this whole story," he said.
Carb Facts -
Strict limits on formaldehyde given off by composite panel products - including a lot of furniture - will be phased in starting in January in California.
Here is some basic information about the new rule:
- It will be enforced by the state's air quality regulator, the California Air Resources Board.
- It will require that manufacturers of composite panel - like particleboard, MDF or hardwood plywood - have their product certified as compliant by a third party, with in-plant quality control testing. There are thousands of composite panel makers around the world, with at least 10,000 hardwood plywood plants and hundreds of particleboard plants in China alone.
- The rule will take effect in phases, starting for composite panel manufacturers in January. Furniture retailers in California will have until June 30, 2010, to clear out goods containing composite panel that doesn't comply with the standards.
- Stores could face fines of $1,000 to $10,000 per day, per violation for carrying non-compliant product.
- Several states will be watching how California's enforcement is received, in case they want to adopt a similar rule. Among them are Michigan, Washington, Massachusetts and Oregon.
- In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declined a petition led by the Sierra Club requesting that the California formaldehyde rule become a national standard. However, the EPA said it will start looking at a possible national formaldehyde standard this year and plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the first stage in the process.
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Interesting that the non-compliant are requesting more time when 40 Canadian and American...
Mic LaFreniere - 2008-29-10 06:55:14
California won’t delay formaldehyde rules
06/16/2008
