The recent industry-average EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) for Italian ceramic was presented at a conference on sustainability held during Coverings, the pre-eminent North American tile and stone exhibition. In particular, the study discusses ways of measuring environmental performance and promoting international awareness of the outstanding results achieved by the Italian ceramic tile industry.

The industry-average EPD for Italian ceramic tiles, suitably integrated with the inclusion of specific impact categories, has obtained mutual recognition with UL (Underwriters Laboratories): a safety science leader and program operator for the North American market.

The EPD is now available on the UL’s SPOT™ database, which is one of the largest credible sustainable product databases available and contains more than 50,000 products.

The real value of the study, conducted by Confindustria Ceramica with the support of thinkstep (www.thinkstep.com), lies in the fact that it gives member companies the opportunity to compete for credits in the context of sustainable building protocols. The EPD, a voluntary certified environmental product declaration based on standard criteria, is attracting global interest as a key tool for product selection and in some cases is becoming a prerequisite for entering certain markets.

The issue was discussed on Wednesday 9 May at 8:00 am in the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta (room B312) by Andrea Contri, Confindustria Ceramica Sustainability Manager, during a meeting entitled “Health, Safety, Environment, Design: Specifying Tile in Today’s Sustainability Landscape”, along with other international figures who discussed the current need for health and sustainability of high-level ceramic products like those made in Italy. Participants gained a better understanding of how the intrinsic properties of sustainable tiles enable them to meet the industry’s main environmental standards and certifications, making them the ideal solution in terms of sustainability as well as being very popular amongst customers.

Andrea Contri discussed the results of the industry-average EPD based on an assessment of environmental data over the entire product life cycle for no fewer than 84 Italian ceramic tile manufacturers, an unprecedented study for the construction industry in terms of the sheer numbers of  companies  involved.  In  his  address,  Contri   also  emphasised  the  value  of  the  EPD  in international protocols such as LEEDv4 and the fact that it is increasingly requested as part of building certification schemes (LEED, BREEAM, DGNB, etc.) and public procurement specifications.

Download the EPD for Italian ceramic tiles