Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2023 Lake Buena Vista
Lucy Croker, Matthew Hynes, Cindy Bray
In Australia, the first Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) covering plastic pipes were published circa 2015/16 by two local manufacturers, supported by the peak industry association. Although this was a milestone event at the time, the reality was that the broader industry did not understand the information given in these EPDs including how to use or interpret them, resulting in their limited use.
There is now an increased focus on environmental impacts in the built environment. However, to maximise the benefits of EPDs users still require a more detailed understanding in order to interpret them correctly.
To assist in educating the broader industry, a project to develop credible educational material on how to correctly interpret EPDs for plastic pipes and other pipe materials was initiated. This included providing clearer context to the results of the EPDs to allow fair and transparent comparisons. The ReCiPe2016 life cycle impact assessment was also explored as a means to communicate a more holistic approach to identifying hotspots and trade-offs. Through the duration of the project, the two local manufacturers were also updating their EPDs.
Working simultaneously on these projects, led to several key learnings being identified. The work highlighted the critical importance of ensuring appropriate selection of datasets from the respective Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases. It also became apparent that there were differences between LCA databases which could potentially be misleading for product comparisons. As EPDs become more widespread, it would be desirable for pipe resin manufacturers product specific EPDs to replace the existing generic material data sets. Similarly, the future development of pipe specific Product Category Rules (PCR) will enable more representative comparisons. These refinements would provide significant benefits to the pipe industry and pipe users.
The installation module, A5, is an important part of pipe life cycle assessment. However, due to the number of variables, it is very difficult to define a ‘typical’ installation scenario that can be scaled across a product group. The influence of these variables is explored.
In Australia the need for manufacturer specific product EPDs is seen as one of the first steps on the journey toward ‘Net Zero’. To date this has been mainly driven through ratings schemes from various sustainability infrastructure and built environment organisations and other stakeholders including large tier one construction companies. However, it is expected that the demand for rigorous scientific and transparent communication to support decision making about construction products will only increase as we move towards our goals. Collaboration between industry and other stakeholders is critical to ensuring EPDs support sustainable construction.
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