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Print ArticleCountertop manufacturer Vetrazzo has developed an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in partnership with sustainability experts MindClick SGM. Vetrazzo is the first countertop company – and one of only three companies in any industry – to publish an EPD in the United States.
The EPD, created by MindClick SGM and registered in The Green Standard System, presents a comprehensive assessment of the environmental performance of Vetrazzo’s products from cradle to grave through third-party verified scientific measurement. With the EPD, Vetrazzo has established the surfacing industry’s benchmark for environmental product marketing and positioned itself as the undisputed leader of sustainability in countertop manufacturing.
“At Vetrazzo, we’ve demonstrated that you can offer distinctive style without compromising the environment,” said James Sheppard, CEO and co-founder, Vetrazzo, LLC during the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. “Publishing an Environmental Product Declaration was a natural step for us to take as part of our commitment to maintaining credible and transparent communications to our customers about our environmentally responsible practices. By helping us develop an EPD, MindClick SGM has provided us with third-party scientific credibility supporting our efforts in setting the sustainability standard for our industry.”
The internationally recognized EPD process serves as a valuable tool for companies that strive to connect with savvy consumers as well as meet business and government leaders’ sustainability goals.
“For years, Vetrazzo has made sustainability the core of its products and operations,” said Heather Gadonniex, Managing Partner of Sustainability, MindClick SGM. “We recognized that they were the perfect candidate to set the benchmark for their industry with an Environmental Product Declaration. With this EPD, they demonstrate their commitment to transparency and leadership by example – among countertop manufacturers and U.S. businesses overall.”
Vetrazzo’s newly certified EPD highlights its zero-waste manufacturing process as well as identifying its carbon footprint: 193.35 lbs. CO2 equiv. per square meter of installed countertop. Environmental Product Declaration: The Green Report Card Green claims are commonplace in product marketing, but can be difficult to substantiate. In today’s marketplace, incisive businesses are turning to sustainability as a marketable, competitive advantage. But the proliferation of green claims is creating confusion among companies and consumers as they seek objective and reliable information.
At the June 2009 Sustainable Brands conference, MindClick SGM led a focus group of Fortune 500 executives in which all participants strongly agreed, “The most critical challenge to the success of sustainability is meaningful measurement.”
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) offers a compelling solution. For more than 10 years, global companies have relied on EPDs as a means to standardize technical sustainability information instead of having to wrestle with more than a dozen individual documents. Now, U.S. businesses that recognize the value of transparency in building trust for their products are turning to the EPD process.
An EPD allows companies the opportunity to rise above the greenwash clutter through a focused compilation of meaningful, validated product life cycle assessment facts covering environmental impact from product creation, through distribution and use, to disposal. Internationally recognized, the EPD is a single comprehensive disclosure of a product’s environmental performance. Based on the ISO 14025 series of standards and validated through third-party review, it substantiates companies’ green marketing claims.
Vetrazzo’s EPD was developed by MindClick SGM, verified by PE Americas, and published and registered in The Green Standard System. Vetrazzo joins carpet manufacturers and sustainability pioneers InterfaceFLOR and Bentley Prince Street as the first three companies in any industry to certify and publish an EPD in the United States.
