Bainbridge Island, Wash. –Teragren, the nation’s leading manufacturer of fine bamboo flooring, panels, veneer and worktops, has earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label for their complete line of bamboo building products. The USDA Certified Biobased Product Label verifies that the products’ amount of renewable biobased ingredients meets or exceeds prescribed USDA levels. Biobased products are goods composed in whole or significant part of agricultural, forestry or marine materials.The purpose of the USDA BioPreferred program is to promote the increased purchase and use of biobased products. The increased purchase of biobased products is expected to reduce petroleum consumption, increase the use of renewable resources, better manage the carbon cycle and may contribute to reducing adverse environmental and health impacts.“We are excited that our products have tested at such a high biobased content, and are looking forward to displaying the USDA BioPreferred label on all of our products going forward,” said Teragren president Mike Boshart. The label is going to be on certified Teragren products and available to consumers by early 2013.
Teragren’s bamboo products tested at the following levels, by category:
PureForm Traditional Bamboo Flooring with 99% biobased content
Xcora Strand Bamboo Flooring with 94% biobased content
Bamboo Worktops with 99% biobased content
PureForm Traditional Bamboo Veneer with 99% biobased content
Architectural Bamboo Panels with 99% biobased content
All biobased amount claims are verified by independent labs and monitored by the USDA. Consumers may feel secure in the accuracy of the biobased amount and make informed purchasing decisions.
“We have always known that rapidly renewable moso bamboo pulls carbon out of circulation and contributes significantly to global oxygen replenishment” said Boshart. “Having the biobased content of Teragren products verified by a third party is the next step in communicating this valuable message to specifiers and consumers.”
The BioPreferred Program includes a preferred procurement plan for Federal agencies and their contractors, who are required to give preferential consideration to USDA biobased designated product categories when making purchases. Part of this process of designating product categories for the Federal procurement preference includes USDA establishing the minimum biobased content for the category. Information on the technical, health, and environmental characteristics of these products are also considered. Additionally, Presidential Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, mandates the purchasing of biobased products.
“We are pleased that Teragren Fine Bamboo Flooring, Panels and Veneer have earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label,” said Ron Buckhalt, USDA BioPreferred program manager. “Biobased products provide opportunities to help add value to renewable commodities, create jobs in rural communities and generate investment income.”