DRAFTING AND USE OF MATERIAL PASSPORTS AND CERTIFICATIONS

1.1. DESCRIPTION In order to favour the choice of materials and products with limited environmental impact, it is advisable that these are accompanied by an environmental certification (e.g. Environmental Product Declarations - EPD) or a document that is able to provide indications as to their origin, production and use (e.g. Material Passport); the latter is fundamental for the circulation of reuse products in order to have knowledge of their provenance and the performance that can be expected. 1.2. RELEVANCE FOR CIRCULAR BUILDINGS The use of environmental certifications particularly influences the design phase and the choice of materials: circularity is achieved by choosing materials for which low impacts are certified and whose water and energy consumption is known, thus focusing on the Reduce principle of the circular economy. The certifications themselves assess the entire life cycle of the product, from the extraction of the raw material to the end-of-life phase: in this way, the choice approach is approached in the most conscious manner possible, especially with regard to possible reuse or disposal. The digital passport, similarly, keeps track of the material's journey, acting mainly as a guarantee for those who recognise the environmental benefit of choosing reusable materials over virgin materials. 1.3. INNOVATION ASPECTS The main innovation consists in the tracking, assumed in the case of environmental declarations, while actual for the digital passport, of the product's journey and all the impacts and consequences related to it; in the case of PLRs, a constant commitment and much attention by the figures involved in their updating are necessary so that the data are as complete as possible and provide all the necessary information to those who will operate or reuse the same materials. Special data storage software is needed to do this, and operators in the different phases of the life cycle need to know how it works; DPPs can be integrated into BIM models at the same time, so competent professionals are always needed. On the other hand, as far as certification is concerned, innovation must be of particular interest to companies producing construction or plant materials: it is up to them to demand that they produce materials with a reduced environmental impact and certify them, so that contractors who in turn strive for circularity can find materials that meet their requirements; in this way a virtuous circle of circularity-conscious production, design and realisation is created.

2.1. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Search for materials to be used in the project on databases and platforms for the collection/redemption of Environmental Product Declarations - Keeping track of the origin and operations carried out on materials or products, also with the use of BIM, in case they are to be reused and this information is needed for the material passport - Request of EPD certifications from organisations in charge and authorised to draw them up, by manufacturing companies - Inclusion in material passports, by manufacturers and/or designers, of all useful information for the post-construction phases in order to facilitate those involved in maintenance and disassembly operations - Referring to declarations when choosing materials, especially to know the expected service life and performance without the need for further testing - Creation of material databases in a building (building as materials banks)

3.1. BENEFITS - Traceability of materials - Ability to access the information you need about the product immediately and accurately - Increased use of reused and recycled materials, with performance declarations to provide assurance to designers and contractors - Increased use of materials with low environmental impact to the detriment of non-certified virgin materials - Greater possibility of obtaining sustainability certification for the entire building from the level of individual materials - Incentives for the manufacture and trade of environmentally certified products 3.2. COMPLEXITIES - Lack of precise guidelines for the drafting of Material Passports - Need for a lot of information to obtain certifications, especially in the case of reusable materials - Cost of EPD certifications - Lack of interest on the part of manufacturers in certifying their products if they provide better mechanical performance than competitors - Need for continuous updating of certificates and material passports whenever an operation or transformation is carried out on them - EPD can only be drawn up after an LCA, which is not always easy due to the need to know the supply-chain of materials