LOS ANGELES—Bentley Prince Street is proud to announce that the company is on track to complete environmental product declarations (EPDs) for 100 percent of its manufactured products, measured by production volume, in the year 2012. Currently, the company is ahead of schedule with EPDs publicly available for about 70 percent of its total production. An EPD is the only third- party verification system that takes into account the complete life cycle assessment of a product’s environmental impact, encompassing raw materials, production, installation, use and end of use.
In 2009, Bentley Prince Street became the first North American carpet manufacturer to have an EPD for broadloom carpet. By obtaining EPDs for manufactured products, Bentley Prince Street is moving closer to its Mission Zero® promise to eliminate any negative impact it may have on the environment by the year 2020.
“We challenged ourselves and the industry to be accurate and put an end to greenwashing and we have not let up since,” says Anthony Minite, president of Bentley Prince Street. “Too many manufacturers are claiming to be sustainable with little to back it up. Having EPDs on our products allows our customers to make informed, accurate decisions they will feel good about and meet their sustainability goals.”
An EPD is a third-party verified report derived from a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which outlines the product “ingredients,” detailing where each material comes from, as well as the environmental impacts throughout a product’s life cycle. Similar to how nutrition labels help consumers compare the health benefits of food items, an EPD enables buyers to compare product environmental impacts. Impacts such as energy and material consumption, waste generation and emissions are measured throughout the entire life of a product (read more about EPDs in the Oct/Nov issue of Interiors & Sources).
Bentley Prince Street is a part of Interface, Inc., the first carpet tile manufacturer to receive verified EPDs for its products and a global leader in EPD adoption across its businesses worldwide.
EPDs allow buyers to make informed decisions about the true environmental impacts of products, based upon confirmed facts. EPDs provide objective and comparable information about different products, while complying with internationally recognized standards. The LCA must be conducted in accordance with ISO 14040 and the EPD must be produced in accordance with ISO 14025. Both the LCA and EPD are verified by an independent third party.