Health and Transparency in Product Declarations

Using emerging standards and resources to specify products that are consistent with environmental quality and human health
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Sponsored by Forbo Flooring Systems
Peter J. Arsenault, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP
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There are certainly people in the design and construction industry who feel that some green building standards are the compromised result of pressure to reach consensus among diverse entities with differing interests. As such, a focus on selected “attributes” of materials and products rather than an assessment of the product as a whole has been blamed for manufacturers being able to “green-wash” their products over the past 20 years or so. Similarly, there is a concern that the emerging use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) focuses on certain environmental impacts but stops short of being fully transparent in all areas particularly in terms of human health. Full transparency requires steps beyond the current EPD process. So, let’s begin with the basics of this overall process which includes each of the component parts discussed briefly below:

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Properly performed, a life cycle assessment is an analysis of every phase of a product’s manufacturing process and usage over time. Typically, this includes these five basic phases:

  • Extraction Phase: (sometimes called the “cradle”) A true life cycle starts with the extraction phase where the raw material(s) of the product are identified along with the means of extracting (e.g. mining) and transporting that material to a manufacturing site such as a factory.
  • Manufacturing Phase: Next, the manufacturing phase is examined in terms of the processes and procedures needed to turn the raw materials into a finished product ready for delivery (when ready for delivery it is sometimes referred to as being at the “gate”).
  • Construction Phase: The third phase is where design and construction professionals usually see the products, namely the construction phase where the products are transported from a factory to the jobsite and installed as part of the normal construction process.
  • Use Phase: From there the product begins its useful service life or use phase as part of the building to the benefit of the building owner and users.
  • End of Life Phase: (sometimes called the “grave”) At the end of its usefulness in the building, the product moves to its end of life phase where it needs to be removed and either reclaimed, repurposed, recycled, reused, or disposed of.

Assessing the issues and impacts across all five of these phases makes up a full life cycle assessment (sometimes called a full “cradle to grave” assessment) of a particular product or even a category of products and materials.

International Standards

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (www.iso.org) has become recognized around the world for establishing LCA standards and rules.  This organization, while an independent body, is actually a network of national standards organizations from many countries. In the United States, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the member body that participates in and contributes to the standards that are promulgated under ISO. A process of global consensus is employed for these voluntary standards with the intentions of creating state-of-the-art specifications for products, services, and good practice, helping to make industries more efficient and effective, and helping to break down barriers to international trade. It is the ISO 14044 family of published standards that specifies requirements and provides guidelines for conducting a LCA. In much the same way that building products are tested by independent laboratories for any range of other characteristics, an ISO-compliant LCA is meant to be conducted by an independent third party following the requirements of the standard, thus ensuring unbiased results and confidence by end users of the results.

Product Category Rules (PCR)

A product category rule (PCR) is the standardized method for conducting and reporting the results of a life cycle assessment for a particular group (category) of products. The PCR ensures that all products in its defined category (e.g. concrete products, flooring products, etc.) are measured the same way in each of the five life cycle phases. It also assures that their environmental impacts are quantified in the same way so comparisons can be readily made between different manufactured products within the same category. The PCR defines the means for measuring and reporting out by requiring that the same functional unit of measure is used for all products within a category (e.g. impact per cubic yard of concrete, or per 100 square yards of a flooring, etc.). PCRs are developed using a consensus-based, collaborative, and fairly transparent process by industry experts and stakeholders, following certain ISO guidelines. They are then verified by an expert review panel. At present, however, there are only a limited, but steadily growing number of fully developed PCRs, although more are being developed each year.

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

Products and materials used in buildings can either contribute to or detract from the health of the environment and human well-being.

Photo courtesy of Forbo Flooring Systems

An environmental product declaration (EPD) is a document created by a manufacturer to show the results of the life cycle assessment performed on its product(s) in accordance with ISO standards. Where appropriate, the relevant Product Category Rule should be used to conduct the LCA and the completed Environmental Product Declaration should reflect that. Before being published, the EPD needs to be verified and approved by an independent entity such as UL Environment (ULE) or the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS). The fully vetted EPDs thus enable everyone involved to make accurate direct comparisons of the environmental strengths and weaknesses of similar products, thus providing a degree of transparency in terms of the environmental impacts of using different building products. Many in the green products industry regard the EPD to be a standardized tool used to communicate the environmental performance of a product. It works in the same way that a nutrition label on a food product informs us about the fat, sugar and cholesterol in the foods we eat. Only in this case, it is an environmental impact label informing us about energy, pollution, and resource depletion contained in the products that we select and specify.

 

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Originally published in September 2014

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