Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Further tests on imported XPS cored tilebacker boards have revealed more boards containing banned and toxic substances.
Leading brands Jackoboard, Marmox and Wedi provided test information to the Environment Agency regarding the chemicals incorporated in Chinese manufactured XPS boards in March. These showed that the boards contained blowing agent gases which are banned in Europe due to their harmful effect on the environment.
Furthermore, the boards incorporated a highly toxic fire retardant at quantities also banned throughout Europe.
Following extensive reporting of the tests, one Chinese manufacturer produced a copy of a test report purporting to show that their products were free from the banned substances.
However, to remove all doubt, Jackoboard, Marmox and Wedi submitted further samples of the boards in question to two leading independent European testing laboratories. The results clearly showed that these boards contained blowing agent gases which were banned in Europe fourteen years ago and four times the permitted level of toxic fire retardant.
Given the sensitive nature of the investigation the brand names of the boards in question have not been named as yet.
