The third part of the CIP is the development of product category rules (PCR) – consensus standards used to prepare the Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) that are increasingly needed for products used in infrastructure and construction. EPDs contain data from a product’s LCA presented in a standardized format and using agreed upon units and data that ease comparison of the environmental impacts of alternative materials and products.
ACMA’s Sustainability Forum is a series of engagements with industry members to provide education on sustainability topics, promote networking among companies interested in sustainability and identify objectives for industry programs. ACMA is planning a virtual forum in late spring to address decarbonization of the composites industry’s supply chain.
The Composites Sustainability Council operates within ACMA’s Composites Growth Initiative and undertakes management of projects, like development of the earlier LCI data and, more recently, the preparation of an online directory of composites that are recycling composites.
Clearly, sustainability is an expansive topic. My next column will consider the use-phase sustainability benefits of composite products. There are many anecdotes about how one composite product or another should reduce the climate impacts associated with an end-use product, but we need quantification of those benefits if we expect to convince product designers and materials specifiers.
None of our programs will work without the active participation of industry stakeholders. If you have an interest in the environmental sustainability of the composites industry, please reach out to me.
John Schweitzer is vice president of EH&S and sustainability at ACMA. Email comments to jschweitzer@acmanet.org. For more information on ACMA’s Climate Impact Project, visit acmanet.org/acmas-climate-impact-project/.
