Towards Sustainable Industry

In the past decade increasing attention was paid to the improvement of the environmental performance of products across their life-cycle. Eco-design, green procurement, eco-labels, environmental product declarations, product stewardship, life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy labels are all (good or bad!) examples of ways to try to achieve such an improvement, which have been supported by governments and industry in one way or another.

Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs)

schemes have been developed in order to provide credible information on the environmental impact of Business-tto-Business products. There is however a wide variety of EPD schemes.  In order to avoid misleading the market, it is urgent they be harmonised. EPDs in the construction field are an essential tool in the process of determining integrated environmental building performance. Therefore, the Construction Industry has long advocated for CEN to standardise EPDs on a voluntary basis. This work started at the end of 2005 under the banner of TC 350: ‘Sustainability of Construction Works’. Eurogypsum actively participates in the work of TC 350 and is highly involved in improving products performances.

For example, in 2003, the French Gypsum Association developed with ECOBILAN

life cycle inventories (LCI) on generic Gypsum products (plasterboard, partitions and Gypsum blocks) within the HQE framework.

The result of this work led to the production of technical documents.  On this basis, the French Gypsum Association was able to prepare abridged data sheets to be used for communication purposes and characterising the various environmental impacts, as well as the contribution products make to controlling health risks in a building. Surprisingly enough, the most notable environmental impact is the production of waste....

La plaque de plâtre au coeur de la construction durable-fr.pdf

Gipsblokken-de keuze van uw kopers-nl.pdf

Those actions are necessary but the sustainability of the Gypsum Industry lies in its capacity to create wealth in the indoor-built environment with a sustainable use of natural resources, energy efficient buildings and by reconceptualising waste as products.