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WoodSolutions announces the addition of the new plywood, particleboard and MDF Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to complete the full suite available to Australian designers seeking Green Star and environmental ratings for their projects.

The increasing preference for sustainable design in building projects is seeing a corresponding growth in demand for tools that enable the environmental impact of a structure to be assessed. WoodSolutions now offers Environmental Product Declarations for softwood, hardwood, plywood, particleboard and MDF.

Published through the new Australasian EPD Programme, the full suite of Australian timber industry Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can be accessed by architects, designers, building surveyors and other professionals seeking to maximise environmental assessment and sustainable design in their projects.

These new publications comply with the requirements for an industry-wide EPD under the Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star rating system in that: they conform to ISO 14025 and EN 15804; they have been verified by an independent third party; they have at least a cradle-to-gate scope; and they list all participants in the EPD.

Project managers can use these publications to conduct a Green Star compliant, whole-of-building, whole-of-life Life Cycle Assessment to obtain additional points under the Materials category of the current Design & As Built and Interiors rating tools as well as under the Innovation Challenge category of the legacy Green Star rating tools.

“Publishing the five Australian EPDs shows that the Australian timber industry is committed to offering our customers usable and practical evidence of the sustainability of our products,” said Eileen Newbury Marketing and Communication Manager of FWPA.

The five industry-wide EPDs for Australian wood products have been authored by the Timber Development Association and thinkstep and independently verified by Catalyst.

Download the full suite of EPDs from WoodSolutions here