The document summarizes a presentation given at the Ceramic Days Construction Conference on the 26th of November 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. The presentation discussed the development of a Product Category Rule (PCR) for clay construction products to standardize environmental product declarations (EPDs) across Europe. Key points included an overview of life cycle assessment (LCA) and EPDs, the framework developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) for sustainability assessment of construction works, and the objectives, scope, methodology and requirements defined in the PCR for clay products to allow consistent EPDs to be produced. The PCR is intended to facilitate environmental evaluations and comparisons of clay construction materials at both national and European levels.

1. Ceramic Days Construction Conference
Carolin Spirinckx
26th of November 2013
Brussels, Belgium
PCR for Clay Construction Products

2. Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Agenda
1. General introduction
2. LCA / EPD / PCR?
3. PCR for clay construction products
4. Conclusions

3. Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Agenda
1. General introduction
2. LCA / EPD / PCR?
3. PCR for clay construction products
4. Conclusions

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Green Star
Sustainable built environment:
Some International recognised evaluations tools

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» The challenges
» Sustainable production, use and end-of-life of building
materials, according to the 3 Ps
(People, Profit, Planet) over the entire life cycle
» By means of
» Economical management and reuse of raw materials, building
materials, building elements and buildings
» Development of new and innovative sustainable building
materials and systems
» Encourage the choice for sustainable building materials:
» Need for harmonised LABELS !
Sustainable built environment:
… and what about sustainable building materials?

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ISO 14020:2000 “Environmental labels and declarations - General
principles for labels and declarations of products, systems and services
» Type I – Labels – Type I environmental labelling (ISO 14024: 1999)
…
» Type II – Self declarations - Type II environmental labelling (ISO 14021:1999)
» Type III – Environmental Product Declarations (ISO 14025:2006)
… It all starts with
an LCA
Sustainable built environment:
… labels for building materials and systems

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Agenda
1. General introduction
2. LCA / EPD / PCR?
3. PCR for clay construction products
4. Conclusions

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Construction
process
End
of service life
Building
materials
Raw materials
EOL treatment
emissions, waste
product
Recycling
LCA: why?
Use phase:
energy,
maintenance, ...
Reuse
Reuse

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Closing cycles
Save virgin
raw materials
Avoid
emissions
and waste
INTEGRAL CHAIN MANAGEMENT
LCA: why?

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What is a Life Cycle Assessment - LCA?
LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is a global analysis of
the environmental burdens, directly or indirectly
caused by a product, a material, a process, or
even more in general, by a system over its entire
life cycle
INTEGRAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
“CRADLE TO GRAVE”
Methodological framework:
ISO 14040 and ISO 14044

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What is an Environmental Product
Declaration - EPD?
An environmental product declaration (EPD)
is defined as a quantified environmental
dataset for a product, process, system or
service with pre-set categories of
parameters based on the ISO 14040/44
series of standards but not excluding
additional environmental
information
Methodological framework:
ISO 14025
ISO 21930

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In 2004 the Standardization Mandate M/350 was
addressed to CEN for the development of horizontal
standardized methods for the assessment of the
sustainability of construction works
The work has been allocated to CEN/TC 350
“Sustainability of Construction Works”
CEN TC 350

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CEN TC 350 framework

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» CEN/TC 350 WG 1 – Environmental
performance of buildings (EN 15978)
» CEN/TC 350 WG 3 – Product level (EN 15804)
» CEN/TC 350 WG 4 – Economic performance
assessment of buildings (prEN 16627)
» CEN/TC 350 WG 5 – Social performance
assessment of building (prEN 16309)
» CEN/TC 350 WG 6 – Civil engineering works
CEN TC 350 – Technical committees

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Agenda
1. General introduction
2. LCA / EPD / PCR?
3. PCR for clay construction products
4. Conclusions

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TBE PCR for clay construction products
» Developed by TBE in collaboration with VITO
» Why?
» Lack of a harmonized PCR for
clay construction products
» Future EPDs at the national level
» based on the same common guidelines

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» Objective?
» To develop a common operational methodology
that can be used across Europe to develop
EPDs for clay construction products used
within the building sector
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Starting point?
» EN 15804
» Sustainability of construction works
» Environmental product declarations
» Core rules for the product category of
construction products
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Basic principles
» Scope of PCR – valid for
1. Clay roof tiles, fittings and accessories
2. Protected clay masonry and accessories
3. Unprotected clay masonry and accessories
4. Clay claddings
5. Clay pavers and accessory clay pavers
6. Clay blocks for construction of floor and roof systems
7. Clay blocks for chimney
8. Clay blocks for lintels
9. Ceramic roof boarding sarking
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Complete life cycle – modular approach
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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TBE PCR for clay construction products
Cradle-to-grave

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» Product stage (A1 to A3)
» A1, raw material extraction and processing, processing of secondary
material input (e.g. recycling processes)
» A2, transport to the manufacturer
» A3, manufacturing
» Construction process stage (A4, A5)
» A4, transport to the building site
» A5, installation into the building
» Use stage – related to building fabric (B1 to B5)
» B1, use or application of the installed product
» B2, maintenance
» B3, repair
» B4, replacement
» B5, refurbishment
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Use stage – related to the operation of the building
(B6, B7)
» B6, operational energy use (e.g. operation of heating system and other
building related installed services)
» B7, operational water use
» EOL stage (C1 to C4)
» C1, de-construction, demolition
» C2, transport to waste processing
» C3, waste processing for reuse, recovery and/or recycling
» C4, disposal
» Module D
» Strongly recommended to include in the EPD
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Guidance for the product stage (A1 to A3)
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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» Default scenarios for the construction process
stage (A4 and A5)
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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PCR for clay construction products
» A4 – transport to building site
» Guidance on methodology to determine the
environmental burdens related to transportation:
» Transport mode
» Transport distance
» Loading factor
» Scenarios for national average transportation distances

27. Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
PCR for clay construction products
» A5 – installation at building site
» Default figures for construction waste released at
building site:
» 3% in mass for blocks
» 3% in mass for facing bricks
» 2% in mass for roof tiles
» Default packaging waste scenarios (transport to
treatment and waste treatment)

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» Use stage (B1 to B7)
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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PCR for clay construction products
» B1 to B5 – use stage related to the fabric
» B1, use or application of the installed clay product
» B2, maintenance
» B3, repair
» B4, replacement
» B5, refurbishment
» Result: low environmental impacts if any

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PCR for clay construction products
» B6, B7 – use stage related to the operation
» B6, operational energy use
» B7, operational water use
» Result: These modules are not relevant for clay construction
products

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» Default scenarios for the EOL stage
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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PCR for clay construction products
» C1 to C4 – EOL stage
» C1, de-construction, demolition
» Result: low impacts
» C2, transport to waste processing
Default scenario
Transportation distance Module
From building site to container company or waste processor
39 km
module C for 100% clay products
From container company to final destination
23 km
module C for 5% clay products,
module D for 95% clay products

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PCR for clay construction products
» C1 to C4 – EOL stage
» C3, waste processing for reuse, recovery and/or recycling
» C4, disposal
» European default scenario
» Some national default scenarios (Denmark, the Netherlands,
Germany)
EOL scenario Proportion (%)
Recycling and re-use 70
Landfilling 30

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» Module D – strongly recommended
TBE PCR for clay construction products

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PCR for clay construction products
» Module D
» Methodology to calculate in PCR
» Examples in annex of PCR

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PCR for clay construction products
» LCIA categories – EN 15804
Acidification potential: emissions from manufacturing
processes resulting in acid rain
Abiotic depletion fossil and non fossil resources:
exhaustion of natural resources
Eutrophication: over-fertilisation of water and soil
Global warming: insulating effect of greenhouse gases,
such as CO2 and methane
Ozone layer depletion: depletion of the ozone layer in the
atmosphere caused by emissions of pollutants
Photochemical oxidation: photochemical reaction of sunlight
with primary air pollutants, that leads to chemical smog

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PCR for clay construction products
» LCIA categories – additionally
Environmental impact Unit Recommanded method
Marine ecotoxicity kg 1,4 DB-eq CML
Freshwater ecotoxicity kg 1,4 DB-eq CML
Terrestrial ecotoxicity kg 1,4 DB-eq CML
Human toxicity (cancer effects) kg 1,4 DB-eq CML
Human toxicity (non-cancer effects) kg 1,4 DB-eq CML
soil organic matter, occupation kg C deficit mila i canals
soil organic matter, transformation kg C deficit mila i canals
biodiversity, occupation PDF*m² year ecoindicator 99
biodiversity, transformation PDF*m² year ecoindicator 99
Human toxicity
Additional environmental impact categories
Ecotoxicity
Land use Soil quality
Biodiversity

38. Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Agenda
1. General introduction
2. LCA / EPD / PCR?
3. PCR for clay construction products
4. Conclusions

39. Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Conclusions
 EPDs start to become important on expert level
encouraged by the work of CEN TC 350
 Companies that are active on the European market as well
as more and more consultants in the field of sustainable
buildings are supporting the development of EPDs
 It is important for the construction business that
environmental information is provided in an objective,
standardized form to avoid costly adaptations of the
calculation in every country the product shall be traded
 The TBE PCR for clay construction products will play an
important role in that framework!

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Thank you for your attention!
QUESTIONS?