Find Healthier Alternatives to Plastic Building Products
Informed™ Makes it Easy to Step-up From Red
Plastic has crept into nearly every product category in building and construction, from pipes, to flooring, siding, insulation, and even paint. Once you realize the devastating harm plastics cause to human health and our environment, figuring out how to choose healthier alternatives can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, with Habitable’s Informed it’s easy to choose healthier building materials. When you step up from red, and prefer yellow or green, you can significantly reduce plastics or avoid the worst plastics.
Informed™ helps you choose alternatives to plastic building materials
Habitable’s Informed translates our deep research on more than 200 product types into a simple red-to-green ranking system to help decision makers choose healthier building materials. Product types that are ranked yellow or green are healthier options and tend to contain less plastic—or avoid the worst plastics, including PVC and polystyrene—while reducing overall toxic chemical harms over the product life cycle.
Habitable’s Informed makes it easier for building professionals like architects and developers to choose healthier options, while enabling policy makers and funders to prioritize plastics reduction.
Today’s leaders are already “stepping up from red”
Don’t get left behind as your industry moves toward healthier building materials. There’s a growing movement to reduce our reliance on plastic building materials. By choosing healthier alternatives, building professionals can create competitive advantage for their firms and attract clients who are prioritizing health and well being, alongside climate goals. It also reduces risk because plastics burn hotter, faster, and more toxic than natural materials—as we so tragically learned in the 2025 Los Angeles fires.
These leaders are already swapping out some of the worst plastics for healthier alternatives.
- MSR Design has used mineral wool boards instead of plastic foam insulation for above-grade wall applications. The material retains its R-value, dries well, and is inherently flame-resistant, delivering critical performance benefits while being cost-effective.
- Side x Side Architects used PVC-free resilient flooring across their units in an affordable housing development and community center in Washington, maintaining performance and cost similar to standard vinyl flooring.
- CannonDesign uses linoleum flooring—a healthier, no/low-plastic product—for healthcare facilities, including a children’s care center in Colorado. At a minimal cost premium, the facilities are able to reduce plastic use and toxic exposures while delivering reliable performance benefits.
- First Community Housing uses existing concrete on the first floor of many of their affordable housing developments, avoiding the need for additional floor covering.
Habitable’s research exposes the problems with plastic building materials
For more detail on why these and other leaders are choosing healthier alternatives to plastic building materials, read Habitable’s latest report, “Designing Out Plastics: A Blueprint for Healthier Building Materials.” The key findings of the report include:
- Plastics Everywhere: From flooring and siding, to insulation, and even paint, plastic use in the building and construction sector is now second only to packaging and has the potential to surpass current packaging production in the coming decades.
- Fossil Fuel Origins: Almost all plastics are derived from the very same fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. Just as we strive to decarbonize by electrifying heating and cooling, choosing plastic building materials continues to drive demand for oil, gas, and coal feedstocks.
- Toxic Pollution: The building sector accounts for 70% of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and 30% of polystyrene, two of the most toxic plastics - made with chemicals that are linked to cancer, reproductive issues, developmental harm in children, asthma, obesity, and many more health impacts.
With 2.5 trillion square feet of new construction anticipated by 2060, the building industry can play a huge role in reducing plastics’ burden on people and our planet.
Find healthier alternatives for your building project today with Informed.