NRMCA certifies five Graniterock plants’ Environmental Product Declarations

Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; CP staff

Northern California’s leading independent aggregate and concrete operator, Graniterock, has issued Environmental Product Declarations covering 30 mixes at three central and two transit mixed plants serving Silicon Valley and coastal markets south. NRMCA certified the documents as an EPD Program Operator, adding them to a growing industry library hosted on its website.

Graniterock joins peers Central Concrete Supply and Cemex USA, which have issued EPD for ready mixed produced at select San Francisco Bay area plants. The 25-page Graniterock declaration covers 5- to 7-sack mixes, 3,000 to 6,000 psi design strength, with a range of portland cement-only, fly ash and/or slag cement binder blends. It augments the producer’s green building product development and promotion, and strengthens its case for customers targeting the U.S. Green Building Council’s new LEED v4 certification. A LEED v4 Materials & Resources section references rating point potential for projects where EPD accompany specified products. Northern California, and especially San Francisco, has one of the country’s tightest concentrations of architects and project owners stipulating LEED certification or a related benchmark, Architecture 2030 Challenge for Products.

As EPD Program Operator, NRMCA assists producers in life cycle assessment (LCA) of plant operations and product formulation; independent auditors then review the LCA against a standard Product Category Rule. NRMCA-certified EPD use the University of Washington College of Built Environment-hosted Carbon Leadership Forum PCR for Concrete.