PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEWS

  

News

23 May 2013

Environmental Product Declarations developed for concrete mixes

Central concrete, a US firm supplying concrete mixes, is now offering 1,400 verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on their products. The EPDs - a standardised label designed to communicate the environmental impacts of a product - have been provided by the US based Climate Earth Inc. The company is the first to produce large volumes of EPDs at the individual product level, a change from the usual practice of developing EPDs for classes of products.

“Our combination of expertise in life cycle analysis and enterprise systems enabled us to combine environmental data with traditional mix performance data into an on-line system that allows Central’s customers to see and consider environmental performance as an easy and natural part of the mix procurement process” said Chris Erickson, president and CEO of Climate Earth. “We were honoured to provide Central with a systems-based approach that helps them lead their industry in providing stronger, greener, and cleaner mixes.”

The genesis of the Concrete EPD process began with the formation of the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), a broad alliance of researchers, associations and companies within the building industry dedicated to promoting methods of life cycle assessment (LCA), and to devising standards for reporting the carbon footprint of building products and systems. “The fact that Central has secured fully verified EPDs is a monumental step in realising the Carbon Leadership Forum’s goal,” said Frances Yang, structural engineer at Arup, a CLF member.

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