Environmental Product Declaration for Spanish tiles

The Spanish ceramic tile industry has adopted a sector EPD to underscore the sustainability of its products and to help ASCER member companies obtain individual EPDs for their products.

Following the example set by Italy, North America and Germany, the Spanish ceramic industry has adopted a sector EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) registered with the AENOR GlobalEPD programme. The EPD was promoted and developed by the Spanish national trade association ASCER, which collaborated on technical aspects with the Ceramic Technology Institute (ITC) of Castellón.

During the preliminary stage, ASCER and ITC collected product Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) data from member companies in accordance with a cradle-to-grave approach. Companies accounting for 40% of the country’s total tile production took part in the study.

EPDs serve to determine product environmental impacts and are harmonised and comparable at an international level.

In addition to the sector EPD, ASCER has continued to promote the development of single-company EPDs on the part of individual ceramic companies, well aware that a growing number of specifiers in the large public and private works segment are introducing this certification amongst the requirements for ceramic tiles. Around 40 Spanish ceramic companies currently have their own EPD, a very large number that establishes Spain at the top of the European ceramic industry rankings in terms of this kind of certification.

The EPD promoted by ASCER is already applicable in other countries including Norway, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and France and will soon also be valid in Denmark and Italy.

Like the LCA study, the project is part of a series of initiatives launched by the Spanish ceramic industry in the field of environmental sustainability, including a benchmark study on energy consumption, the participation of ASCER in the FOUNDRYTILE project in the field of the circular economy, and participation in the development of a Sustainability Standard for ceramic tiles within the ISO technical committee.