The Pipelife Environmental EPD Calculator
As an active member of The European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association (TEPPFA) we would like to raise awareness of the value that plastic pipe systems offer for a sustainable future. In order to provide more transparency about the impact of plastic pipe systems on our environment, we have issued an environmental EPD calculation tool for iPad which you can find on the Apple app store and you can download directly from our webpage.
Within TEPPFA, we commissioned an independent study by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) to measure the environmental footprint of our various plastic pipe systems based on a life-cycle assessment. The work was validated by the Denkstatt sustainability consultancy in Austria.
The following fields of application are covered by the app:
- Sewage
- Gas
- Water Supply
- Soil & Waste
- Heating & Cooling
What is LCA?
A life-cycle assessment or LCA is a standardized and the most acknowledged method to quantify environmental impacts of products, processes and/or systems. It shows the environmental effects of a product over its entire life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, through the production of materials and the product, installation, service life, to the end-of-life treatment. The applied LCAs are carried out according to the ISO standards 14040 and 14044.
What is EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) offers a standardized way of communicating the output from such a life-cycle assessment. It allows the user to assess the environmental impact of a pipe system, or any other product, and makes a comparison with alternative products and materials possible.
One of our objectives was to provide transparency about the impact of plastic pipe systems on our environment. The EPDs are based on the ISO standard for Type III environmental declarations (ISO 14025), the European norm EN 15804 (Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Core rules for the product category of construction products) and EN 15942 (communication format).