Sustainable use of Natural Resources, Recycling and Eco-sustainability are the key steps related to the European objectives of greater environmental protection.
Eu Regulation 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council introduced a novelty compared to the previous Directive, namely the seventh requirement "Sustainable use of natural resources", according to which "construction works must be conceived, built and demolished so that the use of natural resources is sustainable and guarantees in particular the reuse or recyclability of construction works, their materials and their parts even after demolition; the durability over time of construction works and the use, in construction works, of ecologically compatible raw and secondary materials".
When a construction product falls within the scope of a harmonised standard, the manufacturer must issue information on its performance by means of the Declaration of Performance (DoP).
It is important to stress that the Regulation indicates that the DoP should be supplemented with "information relating to the content of dangerous substances of the construction product, in order to improve the possibilities of sustainable construction and to facilitate the development of environmentally friendly products".
For the assessment of the sustainable use of resources and the impact of construction works on the environment, the Regulation provides for the use of environmental product declarations. The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) returns the environmental performance of a product, calculated and determined through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study.