Niro Ceramic Group (NCG) announced publication of a verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for its Niro Granite and Portino porcelain tile, illustrating the environmental impacts of its products. The EPD is the most robust multi-attribute, transparent report that communicates what a product is made of and how it impacts the environment.
NCG’s EPD will help building and design professionals globally to specify products that meet requirements for transparency documentation of environmental impacts. EPDs will also make NCG tile products eligible to contribute to credits in green building schemes such as LEED®.
To achieve the EPD, NCG underwent a full cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of its products. The LCA was conducted by SCS Global Services (SCS) and independently verified. The LCA data was then reported in the EPD, which was then externally verified by an independent 3rd party.
The EPD evaluates potential impacts of resource extraction, energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and emissions from the entire product life cycle. It identifies hot spots along the supply chain and manufacturing and examines the environmental impacts. The EPD also shows the global warming potential (the carbon footprint) of the product at every stage of the product life cycle.
“As part of NCG’s commitment to a more sustainable world, we are striving to provide more environmentally conscious options internationally for building products, and this EPD is just the start for us,” said Ian Kok, Managing Director of Niro Ceramic Group. “The EPD provides the essential data for us to leverage, as we continue to make product improvements and process efficiencies that are more environmentally sustainable.”
“Consumers and building professionals want to use products that are better for the environment, and they need reliable, trusted, accurate product data to make informed decisions,” said Keith Killpack, Technical Director, SCS Global Services. “With NCG’s verified EPD, they are providing a fully transparent, objective document that provides just that – and it is a key resource for architects, designers and specifiers. We applaud NCG for their dedication to undergo a life cycle assessment and publish an EPD to share their products’ environmental impacts.”
