Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association Releases First Environmental
Impact Study for Manufacture of Plastic Plumbing Pipe
GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) July 1, 2008 --
The Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association (PPFA) is releasing North
America’s first Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for
the manufacture of plastic plumbing pipe. Richard Church, PPFA’s
Executive Director stated: “The release of
this completed LCI report to PPFA members, LCI databases and the general
public allows for increased transparency of the industry’s
sustainability efforts, expands knowledge about the relative
environmental impacts of its products and underscores PPFA’s
sustainability leadership.”
The LCI (a component of a Life Cycle Analysis) is the first phase of
three planned for a complete Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) on plastic
plumbing pipe. It evaluated the environmental profiles of selected pipes
most commonly used in three plumbing applications: service lines, water
distribution, and drain, waste and vent (DWV) applications. Plastic pipe
manufacturing data was modeled by Franklin Associates, using resin
production data released in 2007 and published in the U.S. LCI Database www.nrel.gov/lci.
Current plastic pipe fabrication data were collected for this study and
averaged from plastic pipe producers, a majority of which were PPFA
members.
The PPFA LCI will be submitted to LCI databases and to the Building for
Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) program. BEES is a
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) program and an ISO
compliant LCA- based selection tool. LCA-based product selection tools
are critical for unbiased green and sustainable building material and
product decision making. PPFA encourages other piping material
industries to develop and submit LCI data to LCI databases to allow for
greater transparency.
The LCI report studied included: 4-inch solid wall PVC pipe, made with
both virgin resin and 50% postconsumer recycled (PCR) content, cellular
core PVC pipe, and ABS pipe with solid and cellular core for drain,
waste, & vent (DWV) applications; 1-inch Polyethylene (PE) pipe and PVC
pipe for inlet pressurized water supply applications; and ¾-inch
CPVC & PEX tubing for Hot and Cold Water Distribution (HCWD)
applications.
The report explores the environmental benefits of plastic cellular core
and recycled content DWV pipe, and potential energy, landfill reduction,
and carbon dioxide implications of energy recovery from waste-to-energy
incineration of post-consumer plastic pipe. It also considers the
environmental impacts from the extraction of natural gas and petroleum
(the raw material feedstocks for plastic resins), through the production
of resin to the manufacture of the products.
Some conclusions based on the LCI are:
-
Light weight piping products generally have lower environmental
burdens than heavier products so they reduce manufacturing,
transportation and disposal burdens.
-
Plastic piping systems show a relatively low energy consumption
profile in their manufacturing process. Therefore, plastic pipe
extrusion processes are clean and low impact manufacturing operations.
-
Reducing emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas,
could be accomplished by the selection of products with lower total
process and transportation energy requirements, such as plastic pipe.
To access the study results, visit PPFA at www.plasticpiping.org/PPFA_Manufacturing_LCI_Report.pdf.
See the original story at: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/plastic/environmental/prweb1067804.htm
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