How to get an EPD for WPC and NFC: a manufacturer’s checklist

Define the business question and product family #

Begin with the markets, tender requirements and products the declaration must support. A decking manufacturer may also sell cladding and fencing, but similar ingredients do not automatically justify one representative result. Identify profiles, colours, cap formulations, manufacturing sites and sales volumes. Ask whether the intended EPD will describe a single product, a group or an average, and how variation must be disclosed. Resolve this with the practitioner and verifier before collecting a year of data in an unsuitable format.

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Choose the PCR rather than guessing from the word wood #

For European construction EPDs, EN 15804 provides core rules, supplemented by programme and product-category requirements. The International EPD System lists construction PCR 2019:14 version 2.0.1. Its wood-related complementary PCR was updated in 2026 to align with EN 16485:2026. Do not assume that every wood-plastic or agricultural-fibre composite falls within that complementary scope. Confirm applicability for the actual material and intended use. Record the agreed versions and transition deadlines in the commissioning brief so the project does not drift between methods.

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Build a formulation and material ledger #

For each profile, record polymer type and source, fibre type, moisture basis, coupling agents, lubricants, pigments, stabilisers and other additives. Include the cap as a distinct input where applicable. Reconcile purchased material, inventory changes, saleable output, offcuts, start-up waste and rejected boards. Internal regrind must not appear both as new external recycled feedstock and as a free disappearance of waste. Separate wet fibre mass from dry solids: otherwise two recipes may look different merely because their moisture measurements differ. Retain supplier evidence and document gaps explicitly.

Measure the factory processes that the product actually uses #

Include drying, compounding, extrusion or moulding, cooling, finishing, cutting and relevant auxiliary operations within the agreed boundary. Match utility invoices and metering periods to production records. Shared electricity and heat require a justified allocation method; production mass alone may not represent two very different processing routes. Record start-up losses, downtime and outsourced operations. Keep electricity supply evidence and the modelling choice together. A renewable-energy contract should not be treated as permission to erase all electricity impacts without checking the applicable accounting rules.

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Trace upstream inputs and realistic downstream scenarios #

Request the recycled polymer’s source, processing route and evidence of recycled content. For wood flour, rice husks or other fibres, establish the supply chain and how burdens from the originating process are treated. Record transport mode and distance rather than a supplier’s country alone. Downstream, identify packaging, installation losses, maintenance assumptions and plausible waste-management routes. A technically recyclable profile may still have little local collection or processing capacity. Give the practitioner an evidence-based scenario and a sensitivity case, not a marketing aspiration.

Prepare for verification without exposing the recipe publicly #

The verifier needs sufficient supporting evidence, but the public declaration need not reveal every commercially sensitive manufacturing detail. Agree confidentiality and permitted public composition reporting with the programme operator. Keep a register connecting each important input to an invoice, meter, supplier declaration or documented estimate. Resolve inconsistent units and periods before verification. Budget separately for data preparation, modelling, verification, registration and maintenance. Costs and duration depend on scope, data readiness and programme arrangements; a universal fixed price would be misleading.

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Treat publication as the start of controlled maintenance #

Assign responsibility for checking changes in resin source, fibre supply, cap composition, energy supply, production location and profile mass. A significant process change may require action before the printed expiry date. Follow the chosen programme’s update rules and preserve superseded versions. For Green Plank or any other manufacturer, an evidence request should name the product family and intended market. This guide does not assert that a particular Green Plank EPD exists or that a product has passed independent environmental verification. It explains the evidence a useful declaration should provide.

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An example manufacturer work plan; the selected programme determines formal requirements.

Common questions