About Toby
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
Recent Articles
NDA or Not? EPD Projects Explained
Handing over plant-floor data can feel like playing poker with your cards face-up. Will an NDA keep competitors from peeking, or does it just slow the shuffle? This quick guide sorts real risk from paperwork theater so you can protect secrets without tripping your own timeline.
Steel vs Coatings: The EPD Momentum Gap
Steel makers are cranking out Environmental Product Declarations like stadium anthems, while paint, coating, and adhesive brands still rehearse in the garage. If your product lives under a layer of color or glue, ignoring that gap could knock you off project short-lists before the next bid cycle even starts.
When Are Environmental Product Declarations Mandatory?
Plenty of manufacturers still ask, “Do we **have** to publish an EPD?” The short answer: sometimes. The longer answer: the list of projects that *effectively* require an EPD is mushrooming, even when the law stops short of saying "shall." Knowing where those tripwires sit lets you plan ahead rather than scramble once a spec lands on your desk.
How Artificial Intelligence Can Support First Pass LCA Bill of Materials (BOM) Mapping
Manual life-cycle inventory mapping once meant staring at spreadsheets for days. Today, advanced reasoning models can connect a 3,000-line bill of materials to the right ecoinvent or GaBi LCI flows in minutes. The grunt clicks vanish, yet the need for domain expertise stays, get the speed boost without surrendering judgement.
EPD Comparability Rules: Ensure Apples Match Apples
Two Environmental Product Declarations may look alike at first glance, yet comparing them can be as futile as judging a grapefruit against a granny-smith. Misreading the fine print risks bad purchasing calls, lost tenders, and greenwashing claims that boomerang in courtrooms. This quick-fire guide shows when EPDs *are* truly comparable, and the red flags that say "don’t even try."
Bau EPD GmbH: Austria’s EPD Gateway
Snagging a pristine LCA is only half the battle. If your declaration never lands in the right databases or can’t satisfy local building certifiers, the paperwork sits idle. Bau EPD GmbH steers Austrian compliance, and a good slice of Central Europe’s, by pairing ISO-accredited verification with plug-and-play links to baubook, ÖKOBAUDAT, and the ECO Platform.
Primary Data: The EPD Accuracy Multiplier
Specifiers no longer settle for industry-average footprints. Miss too much primary data and your environmental product declaration picks up a 30 % uncertainty surcharge that can price you straight out of a bid (NMD, 2025). Here’s why getting plant-level numbers matters, and how to gather them without grinding production to a halt.
Digital EPDs: From PDFs to Plug-and-Play Data in XML or JSON
Still copying numbers out of static EPD PDFs? Machine-readable files can drop that grunt work to nearly zero and plug your products straight into BIM, procurement portals, and carbon calculators. Here is the fast track to formats, file sources, and future-proof prep.
Level(s) Indicators Fuel EU EPD Momentum
Architects across Europe are starting to ask suppliers for numbers that plug straight into the EU’s Level(s) calculator. If you cannot answer with robust life-cycle data, your products risk sliding off shortlists the moment the tender goes green.
Make Your EPD Unmissable: A Practical Marketing Guide
An Environmental Product Declaration only moves the sales needle if buyers can spot it faster than they find a competitor’s product information. Eighty-nine percent of architects head straight to a manufacturer website for technical data and certifications during product research. Use the checklist in this article to surface your declaration everywhere decision-makers already look.
Six Steps to Your First EPD
An Environmental Product Declaration can unlock bids, meet low-carbon procurement rules, and earn LEED points, yet many teams spend months circling step one. Here is the no-fluff roadmap to move from blank spreadsheet to a verified, published declaration without losing sleep (or your launch date).
Hazardous Waste Data: The EPD Wildcard
No product manager brags about their hazardous-waste line item, yet the kilograms you generate, recycle, or landfill can nudge an Environmental Product Declaration from “nice try” to “spec-winner.” Skip or fudge the metric and the whole LCA wobbles.
Which LCA Software Makes EPDs Easier?
A solid life-cycle assessment platform can shave weeks off an Environmental Product Declaration project. Choose the wrong tool, though, and you swap carbon insight for carbon headache. Below we map the main software lanes, flag the hidden potholes, and show when smart manufacturers hand the keys to a specialist partner.
MKI Scores: Your Shortcut to Dutch Tender Wins
Dutch procurement officers no longer skim over green claims, they measure them in euros. A single point shaved off your Milieukosten-indicator (MKI) can nudge a bid in the Netherlands from second-best to first, unlocking contracts that run into the tens of millions. Yet many manufacturers still confuse MKI with a vague “sustainability label.” Master the math and you turn complex life-cycle data into hard-currency advantages.
Who Writes PCRs and How They Happen
A Product Category Rule (PCR) is the referee’s whistle in the EPD game: it sets the limits, spells out the scoring system, and keeps everyone playing fair. Yet many manufacturers still wonder who drafts these rules, how long it takes, and whether they have a seat at the table. Consider this your sideline pass.
Third Party EPD Verification: Your Quality Safety Net
An EPD without third-party verification is like a parachute packed by the guy who *thinks* he read the manual. Drop it on a bid and nobody wants to pull the rip cord. Credible verification turns that same document into a warranty of performance—one architects, owners, and specifiers can trust without squinting.
Third Party Verification for EPDs
Manufacturers often spend months compiling life-cycle data only to watch an EPD stall at the verification desk. Missed bid windows and frustrated sales teams follow. The good news: understanding how third party review and accreditation really work points the way to faster, headache-free approvals.
DIRTT obtains EPDs in record time with Parq
Facing urgent client demands, DIRTT turned to Parq to deliver Environmental Product Declarations at record speeds. See how rapid, technology-enhanced execution changed their game.
