Building with BASTA
The key to a nontoxic construction is to choose building and construction products with minimized content of hazardous chemical substances. By building in a responsible manner we create benefits for both the environment and the economy.
This is the final report of the development project ‘Building with BASTA “conducted by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, BASTA, Skanska and the Finnish Transport Agency. The report presents the results and experiences of the project. The target group of the report are actors in the construction sector who want to increase their knowledge of nontoxic building.
In the report “Building with BASTA” you will find a description of the construction process in terms of quality criteria, ambition levels and roles. The project “Building with BASTA” was implemented by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, BASTA, Skanska and the Swedish Transport Administration. The reports target group is the construction sector participants, that want to increase their knowledge of building without hazardous substances.
B2237 Building with BASTA (in Swedish)
Building with BASTA Guidance document (in Swedish)
Building with BASTA Target levels and verifications (in Swedish)
Copper in construction products
A report by the IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, commissioned by Basta, states that in certain watercourses and soils, increased levels of copper in the environment are observed in comparison to the limit values. This can not be said to be a general problem but varies across the country due to many factors.
Copper is spread to the environment from several sources, where the largest general source of air diffusion is the traffic caused by copper in break pads, and the largest general sources of water are sewage treatment plants and the paper and pulp industry. Spread from construction products such as pipelines and copper materials in facades and ceilings is often done through wastewater and water.
A conclusion from the report is that Basta, which is a national system, currently does not see grounds for limiting copper in construction products. In environments with elevated copper levels, there may be reason to locally review restrictions on copper content in construction products.
Copper in construction products -C269 (in Swedish with English summary)