NPG Nordic

2019-03-28. Nordic water industry strengthens quality mark

The Nordic countries have long been at the forefront in the work to ensure that the plastic pipes used for transporting and protecting drinking water and sewage are of the highest quality and suited for the special, challenging conditions that one finds in the Nordic countries. The key players of the plastic pipe business in the region have now reestablished a strong cooperation around the common quality mark, Nordic Poly Mark (NPM), and the NPM board have several initiatives to further strengthen the NPM.

The new NPM board, which consist of local representatives of the Nordic Water Utility Associations in both Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as from the raw material suppliers and plastic pipe producers of the region, convened in Copenhagen in March, for a kick-off for this new cooperation. The NPM board was established to involve the owner organizations more in the work to safeguard and further develop the high quality standards the Nordic Poly Mark represents, and the board will meet regularly to create an important forum for dialogue within the industry.

In the March meeting of the NPM board, INSTA-CERT – the group of certification bodies in the Nordic countries – also attended and informed about how the critical work they do as a third-party, independent certifier of the Nordic Poly Mark is conducted.

In the next period the NPM board will be chaired by Carl-Emil Larsen, Executive Director of DANVA, the Danish Water Association. Larsen is very excited about the establishement of the NPM board and sees a clear and important role of Nordic cooperation in keeping our resources safe.

– Drinking water is our most critical natural resource, and the quality of the plastic pipes that we trust to transport this resource is critical to ensuring clean and safe water handling, for everyone. The world-class Nordic quality standard for plastic pipes for drinking and waste water has been developed over years, and one role of the NPM board is to ensure that we do not make compromises on quality that will reverse this very positive development, says Larsen and adds that one task of the board will be to better define what exactly constitutes “Nordic quality”.

– We need to be even more specific when it comes to what conditions and criterions that the finished products need to meet in order to adhere to the high Nordic quality standards – and earn the use of the Nordic Poly Mark. Our basic assumption is that all plastic pipes that are installed in the Nordic countries should be of the same, high quality, says Larsen.

The NPM board also has ambitions when it comes to playing a more active role in the industry. As a first activity in this direction, the NPM board will host a session during this year’s NORDIWA, Nordic waste water conference, in Helsinki from 23.-25. September. More information about this activity and the conference will be published later this spring, at nordiwa.org.

For questions, please contact
Carl-Emil Larsen, Executive Director of DANVA.
Mobile: +45 20 33 85 15, e-mail: cel@danva.dk