Greg Reader, George Reed Inc., discusses the experience of an asphalt producer/contractor on the use of Environmental Product Declarations for asphalt in California. Presentation delivered at the CalAPA Spring Asphalt Pavement Conference, held March 20-21, 2019 in Ontario, CA.

1. A PRODUCER GUIDE
TO EPDS
ROAD MAP TO
SUSTAINABILITY
Photo by Myself / Public domain

2. CONTENTS
• Environmental Product Declarations
• History
• Caltrans Plans
• How To Generate an EPD
• Uses and Benefits

3. ENVIRONMENTA
L PRODUCT
DECLARATIONS
• What is an Environmental Product Declaration
(EPD)?
• A Type III Environmental Label as defined in ISO
Standard 14025:2006, Environmental Labels and
Declarations.
• The goal of an Asphalt EPD is to communicate the
environmental impacts of creating one ton of an
asphalt mixture.

4. ENVIRONMENTA
L PRODUCT
DECLARATIONS
• Who decided what is required for an Asphalt EPD?
• The Product Category Rules (PCR) Committee,
comprised of industry representatives and Life
Cycle Assessment professionals working in concert
with the National Asphalt Paving Association
(NAPA), determined the scope, functional unit,
assumptions, and required inputs for an Asphalt
EPD.
• The PCR Committee also ensured that the Product
Category Rules for asphalt pavement and the
underlying LCA met the requirements set forth by
ISO.
• http://www.asphaltpavement.org/PDFs/EPD_Progra
m/NAPA_Product_Category_Rules_%20final.pdf

5. ENVIRONMENTA
L PRODUCT
DECLARATIONS
• Cradle to Gate
• Stages A1-A3 of LCA
• Material Supply, Mining, and Production
• Transport to Plant
• Plant Operations

6. BRIEF HISTORY
• AB 262 - The Buy Clean California Act, originally
signed into law on October 15, 2017 and amended
on June 27, 2018, mandates collection of EPDs for
eligible materials (carbon steel rebar, structural
steel, flat glass, and mineral wool board
insulation).
• Caltrans identified 3 additional materials for
evaluation that were not included in AB 262.
• Aggregates
• Concrete
• Asphalt Concrete

7. CALTRANS
PLANS
• The purpose of the Caltrans Environmental
Product Declaration (EPD) Implementation Project
is to collect EPDs for materials incorporated into
construction projects in order to quantify the
Global Warming Potential (GWP) emissions in the
manufacturing of those materials for our
transportation system.

8. CALTRANS
PLANS – ROAD
MAP FOR
CALIFORNIA
• Timelines for the 4 Materials included in AB262
• PHASE 1 Develop Methodology (2017-2018)
• PHASE 2 Request EPDs (Jan 1 2019) Pilot Projects
– Current Phase
• PHASE 3 Require EPDs (Jan 1, 2020 - TBD)

9. CALTRANS
PLANS – ROAD
MAP FOR
CALIFORNIA
• For additional materials added by Caltrans the
timeline is still TBD
• For Additional Materials selected by Caltrans
• Aggregates
• Concrete
• Asphalt Concrete
Pilot Project Phase (2019 likely into the mid 2020’s)

10. CALTRANS
PLANS
AB 262 Materials will eventually have a threshold
• Carbon Steel Rebar
• Structural Steel (SS)
• Flat Glass
• Mineral Wool Board Insulation
Additional Materials Identified by Caltrans
• Concrete
• Asphalt Concrete
• Aggregate
The 3 additional materials EPDs will be collected and
used for determining baseline GWP emissions.

11. CALTRANS
PLANS

12. CALTRANS NSSP
6-1.06_N09-17-
18

13. CALTRANS
PILOT PROJECTS

14. HOW TO GENERATE AN EPD

15. • NAPA EPD program
• Each company must assign a program
administrator
• Program administrator must complete the
NAPA EPD webinars and pass a test prior
to gaining access to Emerald Eco-Label

17. • EPD creation consists of five steps:
• 1. Enter company data (Organizations)
• 2. Enter plant data (Production Facilities)
• 3. Enter data about your suppliers (Material Sources)
• 4. Define a mix (Mix Definitions)
• 5. Create an EPD for the mix (Product Declarations)

18. Organizations – Set up
• For most manufacturers, your Organization is your company.
• For some organizations with large parent companies, this may be your division or
section.
• A single user can be a part of multiple Organizations (useful for very large
Organizations).
• For the Organization level data, typically you will be entering the name and
address of your Technical Lead, as well as for your billing department.

19. Organizations – Set up
• The Technical lead will be the Organizations administrative
authority to grant users access to different levels of the EPD
Tool.
• The Technical lead can add/manage users to both
Organization levels or plant levels.

20. Production Facilities – Set up
• Physical location of the facility and a contact person for EPD creation at that plant.
• You will purchase your license for Emerald Eco Label at this point.
• Unlimited number of EPDs can be created for mixes made at that plant.

21. Production Facilities – Set up
• In order to characterize the environmental impacts of the creation of one ton of
mix, the LCA requires analysis of the energy and water use at the production
facility.
• Strongly recommend using the EPD Data Gathering Sheet prior to beginning
Production Facility set up.

23. Materials Sources – 4 Sub Categories
• 1. Binders (including additives and modifiers added at the terminal)
• 2. Aggregates
• 3. Binder additives
• 4. Mix additives

25. Define a mix
• Once all of the suppliers and materials needed for a given asphalt mix are
created, the
final step is to define the mix.
• Use Data Gathering Sheet either Form A or Form B
• EPDs are based upon Total Mass of Mix (Form A)
• Form B is used to convert Total weight of Aggregate to Total Mass of Mix

26. Define a mix

27. Define a mix

28. Create an EPD for the mix
• Once you have completed the mix information, you can
view the EPD
• You can Publish and Retract an EPD at anytime once the
mix has been defined.
• If published, potential customers can search by State for
suppliers with EPDs for products.

32. USES AND BENEFITS
• LEED Credits
• Opportunities for Process optimization for Environmental Impact
• Social Responsibility

33. U.S. GREEN
BUILDING
COUNCIL
(USGBC)
• Established in 1993 with a mission to promote
sustainability-focused practices in the building
industry.
• In 2000, LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) rating system introduced.
• LEED v4 is the most current iteration of the Green
Rating system.

34. USES AND BENEFITS
Process Optimization
• Track changes to Environmental Impact YoY for asphalt
mixes
• Identify areas of potential energy
improvements/environmental impacts
• Implementation and evaluation of changes

35. SOURCES
• NAPA:
http://www.asphaltpavement.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i
d=1004&Itemid=100296
• Emerald Eco-Label: https://asphaltepd.org/
• TriSight Engineering: www.trisightengineering.com
• CALTRANS: http://www.dot.ca.gov/mets/ab-262/
• USGBC: https://new.usgbc.org/

36. Questions?