Częstochowa products awarded Environmental Product Declaration

LIBERTY Częstochowa has been awarded an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) type III for its hot-rolled plates and its cast slabs (“semis”). The EPD is expected to extend the sales opportunities for these specialist products into the construction industry, especially in Scandinavia where construction materials must come with an EPD.

Częstochowa joins LIBERTY Steel UK, LIBERTY Ostrava’s tubular plant, InfraBuild and LIBERTY Primary Steel in Australia which have all developed EPDs for a range of their steel products.

An EPD is a document that describes in detail the impact of a product on the natural environment during its life cycle, including raw material acquisition, transport, and production. The EPD system is a global programme that operates in accordance with ISO 14025 and is also aligned with the European standard EN1580. EPDs are the most recognisable and credible international certificates given to those products that fully meet the requirements of sustainable construction. Among other things, they allow accredited products to be used in building green projects that aspire to obtain LEED, BREEAM or DGNB certification.

Częstochowa’s EPD was developed by the Polish Building Research Institute (ITB) and verified by an independent expert. For several months the plant’s Quality Control Department prepared an extensive set of data, in line with the TIB’s criteria, in cooperation with a range of departments across the plant. Having reviewed the data, the TIB granted LIBERTY Częstochowa with the EPD type III certification which is in line with the European standard 15804.

Obtaining an EPD is not obligatory for a plate producer, but customers are inquiring about it increasingly often. This EPD is the result of the long-term, responsible environmental approach of LIBERTY Częstochowa, supported by continuous monitoring of the environmental impact of the plant’s production.”

Dariusz Kwiecień, Systems and Certification Manager within LIBERTY Częstochowa’s Quality Control Department