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V-Gard® GREEN

The world’s first hard hat made from renewable resources!

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MSA has always been a pioneer in safety, starting nearly 100 years ago with our first Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) products designed to better protect underground miners. That tradition continues into the next century with the introduction of the V-Gard GREEN — the world’s first sustainable protective helmet.

GREEN Facts

  • GHDPE is a renewable resource because sugarcane growth exceeds the rate of harvest. By contrast, fossil fuels (i.e., petrochemicals), and the polymers derived from them, will eventually deplete.
  • V-Gard GREEN helmets are third-party SEI certified as Type I, Class E under ANSI/ISEA Z89.1-2009 and CSA Z94.1-2005.
  • GHDPE can be produced from several types of plants, including corn, sugar beets or sugarcane. The GHDPE used to make the V-Gard GREEN is produced from sugarcane. Sugarcane is a fast-growing plant that grows in tropical climates.
  • Sugarcane captures CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis (process by which light energy is converted to chemical energy), helping reduce the level of greenhouse gases.
  • V-Gard GREEN helmets are produced from green high-density polyethylene (GHDPE), a biopolymer made from sugarcane-based ethanol.

 

Designed to Stay out of Landfills

All V-Gard helmets are made of High Density Polyethlyene (HDPE) and carry a “Number 2 Plastic” recycling symbol. HDPE carries low risk of leaching and is readily recyclable into many other goods, including detergent bottles, pens, recycling containers, and drainage pipes, to name a few.


100% Renewable Raw Material
Helmet shell made from polyethylene derived from renewable sugarcane.


Combat Global Warming
Sugarcane captures and sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere, helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global warming.


100% Recyclable Product


Quality Assured
The V-Gard GREEN helmet meets the same MSA standards as the V-Gard model produced with polyethylene from fossil fuel.

 

Award-Winning Innovation

Frost & Sullivan (F&S), a 50-year old global research organization consisting of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies, presented MSA with the “2013 Global New Product Innovation Leadership Award in Head Protection.” F&S’ independent analysis of the Head Protection Market indicated that MSA addressed the sustainability needs through its V-Gard® GREEN hard hat, helping reduce human interference on environmental balance. F&S indicated that with this highly commendable product innovation, MSA pioneered the concept of sustainable nature-inspired product development into the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) industry.

 

GHDPE Facts

  • For every ton of GHDPE produced, 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are captured from the environment. Conversely, one ton of polyethylene sourced from petrochemicals actually emits more than two pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere1.
  • The production of 200,000 tons of GHDPE represents an annual reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere of some 920,000 tons. This is equivalent to the CO2 emitted annually by the energy consumption of 226,000 families2.

1 Ecoefficiency Study, Fundação Espaço Eco, 2007).
2 Brazilian Government – Ministry of Science and Technology – National Climate Change Program,
on the CO2 emissions produced by generating the electricity consumed by a Brazilian home in 12 months.

MSA Supports these GREEN organizations