The Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC) recently announced that three definitions related to sustainability the organization submitted were approved by the full ASTM D 14 Adhesives Committee at its recent meeting. The approved definitions of sustainability, renewable resource and lifecycle assessment will be added to the ASTM document D 907 (Standard Terminology for Adhesives) by July.

The approved definitions are as follows:

1. Sustainability, n—the maintenance of ecosystem components and functions for future generations.
2. Renewable resource, n—a resource that is grown, naturally replenished or replaced at a rate that exceeds depletion of the useable supply of that resource.
3. Lifecycle assessment, LCA, n—a method for evaluating a product by reviewing the ecological impact over the life of the product.

“The cooperative effort between ASC and ASTM, which resulted in having three terms related to sustainability approved for the D 907 document in a matter of six months, is extremely gratifying and supportive of industry need for clear definitions in this emerging area,” said Mark Collatz, the ASC’s director of Government Relations. “These efforts are critical for the global industry to have a strong baseline of understanding when it comes to important terminology and descriptions.”

The approved terms were initially identified by attendees of the ASC’s 2011 Sustainability Summit. Following that event, the ASC’s Technical Committee undertook a desktop research project and identified existing definitions for each term. The committee then came to a consensus on what they deemed most appropriate for the industry.

For additional information, visit www.ascouncil.org.