Materials
Core concepts
WELL v2 Materials reduces occupant exposure to hazardous substances and promotes transparency and responsible material flows. Preconditions typically address material transparency, material optimization, ingredient reporting, and waste management. Optimizations include ingredient optimization, enhanced transparency, waste reduction, and site remediation.
Material transparency means disclosure-knowing what is in a product through declarations, health product declarations, or ingredient reporting. Material optimization means avoiding or reducing hazardous ingredients. Ingredient reporting is a disclosure step; optimization is a preference step. Waste management covers construction and operational waste, including diversion, storage, and hauling. Site remediation addresses contaminated soil or groundwater.
Traps
A frequent trap is treating transparency as optimization. A product can be fully disclosed and still contain a restricted substance. Another trap is assuming recycled content automatically means low hazard. Also separate construction waste from operational waste, and do not confuse ingredient reporting with ingredient optimization. Questions may test the difference between “know what is in it” and “avoid what is in it.”
Rule of thumb
If the question is about disclosure, think transparency and reporting; if it is about avoiding a chemical class, think optimization.
Worked example
A project selects a product with a health product declaration but the product contains a chemical on a restricted list. The disclosure supports transparency, but optimization is not satisfied. The team should seek an alternative or document a reasoned approach consistent with the feature.