Environment/Health Concerns
Dow is committed to ensuring that its products can be manufactured, transported, stored, used, disposed and recycled with an appropriate regard for safety, health and environmental protection. To assist in the safe handling of Dow products, Dow provides customers and others with fabrication guidelines, installation information, Material Safety Data Sheets and additional information.
For years, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a type of blowing agent, were commonly used to improve the insulation performance of plastic foam products. However, when evidence first began to appear linking CFCs to ozone depletion in 1978, Dow began its own program to stop using these blowing agents and convert to an environmentally safe product. Dow was the first manufacturer to do so.
Today, all Styrofoam™ products worldwide are manufactured with either hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) blowing agents, which have an ozone depletion potential less than 10 percent of standard CFC blowing agents, or even HCFC-free blowing agents as a permanent, ozone-friendly foam.
Research is continuing to refine and improve all Styrofoam products. Dow continues to aggressively seek products that will lead to better replacement relative to the environment.
In 2003, Dow replaced the blowing agent used in all of its polyisocyanurate insulations, including Trymer™ polyisocyanurate pipe insulation, to meet regulations implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based on the Clean Air Act. Instead of HCFCs, Dow now uses hydrocarbons with zero ozone depletion potential.
Dow is the first polyisocyanurate insulation manufacturer to make CFC- and HCFC-free insulation products as required by the Montreal Protocol and Clean Air Act. Dow is also the only polyisocyanurate manufacturer to achieve a third-party 25/50 listing* with the CFC- and HCFC-free blowing agent.
The uniform, closed-cell structure of Trymer and Styrofoam pipe insulation contributes to fabricated products that are nondusting, nonabrasive and odorless. Further, all Dow insulating foam products are formaldehyde-free, and are not known food sources for mold or mildew.
To learn more about Dow’s commitments to environmental stewardship, corporate social responsibility and more, visit Our Commitments.
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