Streamlining sustainability reporting across the cementitious materials spectrum.
The American Cement Association (ACA) has partnered with the Slag Cement Association, the Natural Pozzolan Association, and the American Coal Ash Association, to develop new, consolidated Product Category Rules (PCR) for cementitious materials.
Officially known as SMART EPD®, Part B Product Category Rules for Cementitious Materials, Standard 1000-017, version 1, this effort entailed merging three different PCRs – for cement, slag cement, and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as coal ash and natural pozzolans – into a single PCR. This initiative better aligns the rules for SCMs with those for cement and will improve reporting for blended cements, which often incorporate SCMs.
“The PCR consolidation was not only welcomed, but even requested, by several SCM producers and the groups that represent them,” said Jamie Farny, ACA’s Director of Environmental Measurement and Metrics. “It’s a logical next step that reduces duplicative efforts and assures more uniform application of the rules across all materials, helping producers and users better understand – and ultimately reduce – the environmental impacts of concrete, which is the most used material on the planet after water.”
Based on the new rules, ACA’s EPD consultant has initiated a survey of U.S. cement manufacturers to collect data to support new industry average environmental product declarations (EPDs).
Updated national average EPDs will cover 4 categories of cement: Portland cement, portland-limestone cement, blended cements, and masonry cement, as covered, respectively, by standards ASTM C150/AASHTO M 85 (portland cement), C595/M 240 (PLC and other blended cements), and ASTM C91 (masonry cement). Where possible, regional cement EPDs for the 4 categories will also be produced.
As cement contributes to environmental impacts to cement-based products like ready-mix and precast concrete, cement EPDs are used by owners, designers, specifiers, ready-mix concrete producers, and precast concrete manufacturers to inform material selection and procurement and quantify environmental performance of cement-based materials.
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