Gypsum industry news

US: CertainTeed has announced that it is the first company in the gypsum manufacturing industry to offer Health Product Declarations (HPDs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for wallboard products.

The newly-published HPDs and EPDs provide scientifically-robust and transparent information about environmental performance and third-party verification to confirm the true sustainability of a product. The declarations also allow products to contribute towards points in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building projects.

42 HPDs have been published to cover all CertainTeed gypsum wallboard product categories, including standard and specialty wallboard; Type X fire resistant and M2Tech moisture and mould-resistant wallboard products; GlasRoc exterior sheathing; AirRenew Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) wallboard; SilentFX noise-reducing wallboard and Easi-Lite lightweight gypsum wallboards. Six EPDs, grouped by manufacturing plant location, are also now available for Easi-Lite and 5/8-inch Type X fire-resistant gypsum wallboard.

UK: Saint-Gobain's British Gypsum is making it easier for specifiers and architects to identify environmental performance with the launch of seven new Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) that cover nine products.

As part of its aim to give environmental transparency and make it easier for specifiers to gather evidence for building certification schemes, such as BREEAM, LEED and SKA, British Gypsum has introduced additional EPD to its Thistle plaster range. These include declarations for Thistle BoardFinish, MultiFinish, BondingCoat, Browning, Universal OneCoat, DuraFinish, SprayFinish, ToughCoat and HardWall.

The EPDs were externally verified for the Thistle plaster products following a robust Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which calculated the environmental impact of each product throughout its lifecycle. The LCA considers a range of factors, including the effect of raw materials, manufacturing process, installation, performance in use and recycling capabilities.

"As our EPDs are based on clearly-defined EU-wide rules and regulations, our customers can be confident in the knowledge that they are receiving reliable indicators, allowing them to make an informed decision when planning or delivering a project," said Heidi Barnard, sustainability leader at British Gypsum. "We're currently the only UK plaster manufacturer to offer EPDs, but we recognise the importance of giving our customers greater transparency, especially in our industry, where sustainable practices are becoming more rigorous on an almost daily basis."