CertainTeed Lightweight and Midweight Joint Compound (Calgary)

Declaration details

Manufacturer

CertainTeed Saint-Gobain

Program operator

Smart EPD

Declaration number

SmartEPD-2024-036-0166-01

Date of issue

September 26, 2024

Valid until

September 26, 2029

Product category rules (PCR)

UL Part B: Joint Compound (version 1)

Standard

ISO 14025:2006 and ISO 21930:2017

Functional unit

100 m2 of product

System boundary

Cradle to grave (A1 - A3, A4, A5, B1 - B7, C1 - C4)

Product specificity

Product Specific

Manufacturing specificity

Manufacturer Average, Facility Specific

Manufacturing plant

CertainTeed Calgary Finishing Plant (3304 58 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2C 0B3, Canada)

Product category

Finishes › Gypsum Board › Gypsum Finishing Compounds

Product service life

75 years

Verifier

Jana Fogarty, TrueNorth Collective

LCA software

GaBi 10.0

Program instructions

Smart EPD General Program Instructions v.1.0, November 2022

Life cycle assessment results

Results per 100 m2 of product.

Environmental Impact Assessment Results

Resource Use Indicators

Waste and Output Flow Indicators

Carbon Emissions and Removals

ND = not declared. Life cycle modules: A1-A3 product stage, A4-A5 construction process, B use stage, C end of life, D benefits and loads beyond the system boundary.

Material composition

Hazardous substances

No regulated hazardous or dangerous substances are included in this product.

Scenarios

Transport to the building site (A4)

Fuel type

Diesel

Vehicle type

Standard Freight Trailer

Transport distance

500 km

Capacity utilization

85%

Packaging mass

3.62 kg

End of life (C1-C4)

Collected with mixed construction waste

59.29 kg

Product or material for final disposal

59.29 kg

Product description

CertainTeed Joint Compounds are specifically engineered pre-mixed compounds that necessitate minimal mixing or thinning. The Lightweight and Midweight Ready Mix Joint Compound product lines encompass a variety of offerings. The Lightweight options include CertainTeed Lite Finishing, CertainTeed Lite All Purpose, CertainTeed Lite Taping, CertainTeed Lite Topping, CertainTeed Lite Fill and Finish, and CertainTeed Ready-Mix Spray texture. The Midweight options include CertainTeed Easi-Fil Dust Away and CertainTeed Easi-Fil All-Purpose. These products are available in a range of volumes.

This Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) focuses on the average Lightweight and Midweight Joint Compound products manufactured at the CertainTeed Gypsum Calgary, AB facility. The study considers the 17L Carton as the standard volume for all the aforementioned lightweight products, and 12L pail as the standard volume for Midweight products. The Ready Mix Joint Compound products in this EPD are composed of a water and Limestone blend with additional clay, binders, thickeners, preservatives, and other additives. The Lightweight and Midweight Ready Mix Joint Compounds offer the following benefits:

- Premixed vinyl-based compounds deliver a smooth, seamless finish for walls and ceilings that adhere to the ASTM C475 standard.

- The versatile All-purpose compound is suitable for both taping and finishing of wallboard joints, corner trims, and fasteners.

- The strong bond of Taping compound is specifically designed for embedding drywall reinforcing tape.

- The Easy-to-sand Finishing compound is formulated for the final coats over wallboard joins, corner trims, and fastener heads.

Interpretation

The data pertaining to the operation of the Calgary, AB facility were directly obtained from CertainTeed Corporation. The data were meticulously scrutinized for internal consistency, and cross-verified with plant personnel. The researchers recommend sub-metering of energy use for each critical stage in the manufacturing process to allow for a more detailed analysis. It is important to note that the findings of this research are limited by the inherent uncertainty of creating a representative model through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The modeling of the product system involved numerous assumptions, including representative processes and datasets. While quality control measures were implemented at each step of building the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and conducting the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), the results are inevitably subject to uncertainty since the data represents only one year of manufacturing information from Calgary, AB. A detailed evaluation of more time periods would serve to reduce this uncertainty. The life cycle assessment results indicate that the raw materials, raw materials transportation, and packaging have a significant impact on life cycle impacts of the products. Impact seen in the raw material transportation are due to the wait of raw materials and the long distance from source location to manufacture. Additionally, the final product density contributes to the higher impact potential due to the short distance from manufacture to installation, which is less than 500km. To mitigate environmental impacts, incorporating more recycled content into the packaging is recommended as it could reduces the environmental impacts of the packaging stage in the product's life cycle.