About 300 EPDs have now been registered through the International EPD System. BYK-Chemie, a German company based in Wessel, received registration number S-P-00300. The EPD covers a defoamer used in the additives and instruments sector based on eco-friendly and sustainable raw materials.

Four companies have so far used the PCR for "Bottled water, not sweetened or flavoured".
The companies are all based in Italy – Cerelia, San Benedetto, COOP Italia as well as Ferrarelle.  

The demand for PCRs is growing, which is proved by the many new product categories on this website. PCRs are developed through a process where a PCR moderator is appointed. At this stage already available PCRs are considered. The next step is to seek cooperation with other interested parties in order to constitute a consultation group. When the PCR has been developed and agreed it is published online.

Our latest PCRs cover:

• Fruit juices;
• Pasta, cooked, stuffed or otherwise prepared; couscous;
• Nonwovens for clothing, protective clothing and upholstery;
• Vaccines for human or veterinary medicine; 
• Detergents and washing preparations; 
• Tiles, flagstones, bricks and similar articles of cement, concrete or artificial stone;  
• Finished bovine leather; 
• Absorbent hygiene products;
• Water distribution through mains (except steam and hot water).

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Transport is a growing area in the International EPD System with the PCR for rail vehicles now being used for the third time.

Spanish company CAF, which is running the Zaragoza tram, can now boast with the first EPD to be registered for a tram. However, the PCR for rail vehicles has been used twice before, in an EPD by transport companies Bombardier and for AnsaldoBreda's EPD on its Roman Metro.

CAF’s tram has been redesigned to improve maintenance ease and lightness, which reduces consumption of both resources and energy during its operating life.

An open consultation on the programme instructions of the International EPD_® System will take place later on this autumn. The Technical Committee is currently working on a draft proposal of the new instructions, which will be edited by the Secretariat. The previous rules (GPI 1.0) were published in 2008 and the new version (1.1) is expected to be a minor update. 
 

Our instructions need to be revised to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in LCA, the fast development in the field of PCR and for clarification purposes in general, says Kristian Jelse, Deputy Head of the International EPD System.

  
 
One area in need of updating is the characterization factors for global warming potential, GWP. The aim is also to strengthen the relationship between EPD and climate declarations.
 
The Technical Committee is responsible for reviewing new PCRs before publication, and to consider applications to become individual verifier. While awaiting the new GPI, the Technical Committee has decided to impose the following guidelines already today: 

• The latest characterization factors for GWP 100 years from the IPCC should be used instead of Annex B in GPI 1.0.
• Allocation based on physical relationships should be promoted in PCRs, and economic allocation should be avoided if possible.
• Applicants who wish to become individual verifiers in the International EPD System will have to fulfill certain qualification criteria, such as minimum experience in the field of LCA as well as audit qualification attestation based on the ISO 19011 criteria.
• The PCR Basic Modules will go through a review process by the Technical Committee to ensure compatibility with the new GPI. In the meantime the PCR moderator should view the Basic Modules as templates, not as strict rules for underlying PCRs. 

For further information about the GPI update, please contact the Secretariat at info@environdec.com.

Italian company Freudenberg Politex chose to develop an EPD for its bituminous membranes made of recycled staple polyester. The products are manufactured using recycled raw materials. The production of one kilo of Texbond® R, a polyester fiber nonwovens, takes 1.2 kilo of post consume PET bottles. 84 per cent of the materials in this product are recycled, while the rest is glass, resins and additives.

The EPD shows that the main impact per manufactured kilogramme comes from the upstream processes, which e.g. includes processing the PET bottles. 

Metro Roma C is an urban metro designed for passengers transport – and can now also boast with an EPD^® certification.

The EPD^® shows that the downstream use phase takes some 92 per cent of the total energy consumption of the train. In the hypothesis assumed in the simulation, Metro Roma C electricity consumption is 17.83 kWh per kilometre. In order to evaluate environmental impact in the downstream use phase Italian electric mix was adopted. The number of passengers used in the calculation corresponded to 1,204 and the load factor was 6.2.

The use phase has been modeled using simulating computation taking issues such as maximum speed, average speed, average slope of the run, maximum acceleration, loads, length of route as well as average number of runs per day and year into account.