NRMCA to Certify Environmental Product Declarations

NRMCA is now an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Program Operator in order to help its members meet the new requirements in LEED v4, International Green Construction Code (IgCC) and the Architecture 2030 Challenge for Products. EPDs are third-party verified reports published by product manufacturers that provide quality assured and comparable information regarding environmental performance of their product.

EPDs are intended to assist specifiers, purchasers and users of products to compare among products, but do not represent environmental claims regarding the superiority or equivalence of one product versus a competing product that performs the same function. EPDs are developed in accordance with strict international standards that include a transparent verification process for adopting Product Category Rules (PCR) by which EPDs are developed and verified. To produce an EPD, a company must perform a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on a product and report the results in the EPD. The PCR defines, among other things, the functional unit (product to be analyzed), scope and boundaries of the LCA and the environmental impacts to be reported in the EPD. Before the EPD can be published, it must be third-party reviewed and verified.

The NRMCA EPD Program aims to help develop, verify and publish EPDs for ready mixed concrete products. To maintain third-party objectivity, NRMCA will ensure that an independent verifier reviews and verifies each EPD developed under the NRMCA EPD Program before certifying the EPD. Independent verifiers may be an individual or verification body with knowledge of the concrete products industry and related environmental aspects, with process and product knowledge of the product category, and have expertise in LCA methodology.