Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; CP staff
Michigan-based certification authority NSF International has issued a new Product Category Rule (PCR) for Concrete, reflecting nearly two years of stakeholder-proposed updates to a charter 2013 version. The PCR is a set of industry rules to support development of environmental product declarations (EPD) for ready mixed and manufactured concrete. EPDs respond to calls for product transparency and disclosure from green building standards, market initiatives, and state laws.
EPDs based on the inaugural PCR for Concrete are valid until their expiration date, although might carry less weight among green building practitioners as revised declarations are prepared according to the new rule. As the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED v4 rating system fosters greater adoption of EPD in project specifications, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association notes, it is important for producers to consider a declaration strategy. To date, the North American ready mixed concrete industry, including material suppliers, has 41 verified EPD covering 18,000-plus mixes or products from nearly 3,000 plants. Additional details on the new PCR and the industry’s EPD library can be obtained from NRMCA Senior Director, Sustainability Initiatives James Bogdan, LEED AP, [email protected].