Caltrans - Environmental Product Declaration

Environmental Product Declarations

What is an Environmental Product Declaration, or EPD?: An EPD is an independently verified and registered document that reports a product's environmental impact over its life cycle.
How do I obtain an EPD?: Contact a program operator to begin the EPD development process. A manufacturer will need to conduct a product life cycle assessment and utilize a program operator to verify and publish an EPD.
Where can I find a program operator?: Find program operators at the Program Operator Consortium and in the References and Resources section on the California Department of General Services website. Stakeholders are not restricted to using the program operators referenced on the DGS webpage.
What environmental impact category does the BCCA use as a metric?: The BCCA uses GWP, which is reported as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq.).
What is Global Warming Potential, or GWP?: Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are those that trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are types of GHGs. While all GHGs have the effect of trapping heat, each gas has a different amount of impact. The various GHGs produced when manufacturing a product, for example, can be represented by an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide associated with the warming effect of a given quantity of a GHG. This amount is known as the global warming potential (GWP) and is expressed as CO2 eq.

Eligible Materials

What construction materials are affected?

Eligible material	Description
Structural steel	Hot-rolled sections consisting of wide flange beams (W-shape and HP-shape used in structural applications), standard beams (S-shape), misc. beams (M-shape), channels, angles, and tees. Hollow structural sections with round, square, or rectangular cross-section. Plate material.
Concrete reinforcing steel	ASTM A615/A615M standard specification for carbon steel bars. ASTM A706/A706M standard specification for low-alloy steel bars. ASTM A767/A767M standard specification for zinc-coated steel bars. ASTM A775/A775M standard specification for epoxy-coated steel bars.
Flat glass	Float or rolled glass that is clear or tinted.
Mineral wool board insulation	Board insulation made of rock or slag in light-density and heavy-density types. Light-density: 2.5 lbs/ft³ - 4.3 lbs/ft³ Heavy-density: 4.4 lbs/ft³ - 8 lbs/ft³ lbs/ft³ is pounds per cubic foot.
Asphalt Concrete	Hot mix asphalt (HMA) and warm mix asphalt (WMA) containing aggregate, asphalt binder, and additives. Aggregate is a mixture of sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, or other material. Asphalt binder is a bituminous material used in HMA and WMA. Additives are materials added to HMA and WMA to improve performance.
Concrete	Ready-mix concrete (RMC) and precast concrete containing aggregate, cement, fly ash, slag cement, silica fume, and water. Aggregate is a mixture of sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, or other material. Cement is a binding material used in concrete. Fly ash is a byproduct of coal combustion. Slag cement is a byproduct of iron production. Silica fume is a byproduct of silicon production.

Will any other construction materials be added to the BCCA?

It is likely that additional legislation will add more materials in the future.

Compliance

Is there a particular type of EPD that must be submitted?

An EPD must meet certain requirements before an awarding authority can determine material compliance.

An EPD must be:

A facility-specific manufacturer declaration
Independently verified in accordance with ISO 14025 (Type III environmental declarations - Principles and procedures)
Developed according to the guidelines of the applicable Product Category Rule (PCR) as identified by the California Department of General Services
Validated by a date that has not expired
Represented as an eligible material

An EPD must not be:

An industrywide/industry-average product declaration
A fabricator's product declaration
An average reported GWP from multiple manufacturing facilities