Interface was the first North American carpet manufacturer to publish a third party verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and we’ve since expanded our EPDs into seven product categories. Now, 99% of Interface products globally have an EPD.
What is an EPD?
An EPD provides the product ingredients and environmental impacts that happen during the entire life of a product. It’s similar to the ingredient and nutrition labels on food. Instead of calories and recommended daily allowances, an EPD shows things like raw material extraction, energy use, air, soil and water emissions and water use and waste generation.
Why create an EPD?
Creating an EPD requires the increased transparency that people are requesting and we are committed to being open about our products’ environmental impact. Not just a green claim or promise, an EPD shares product information in a consistent way, certified to a public standard and verified by a credible third party.
For customers seeking LEED certification, our product specific EPDs contribute to the LEED v4 Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credit that reward product transparency and environmental impact reduction.
How are EPDs created?
Companies must commit to fully disclose what is usually confidential information about how products are made. In addition, companies must perform a comprehensive life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040 standards. From this information, an Environmental Product Declaration is developed based on ISO 14025 standards. Both the EPD and the LCA have to be third party verified.