Tire Industry Backs New Standards for Environmental Labeling

The Tire Industry Project (TIP) – currently comprised of 11 leading tire companies- has launched new Product Category Rules (PCRs) for the tire industry.

Commissioned by the TIP and developed and published by internationally respected UL Environment, the rules ensure compliance to information and transparency standards when creating an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) – an independently verified and registered environmental label for the lifecycle impacts of a product. Members on the TIP include Bridgestone, Goodyear, Continental, Cooper Tires, Hankook, Kumho Tire, Michelin, Sumitomo Rubber Group, Toyo Tires, Yokohama and Pirelli.

“TIP members identified the need for a comprehensive, globally relevant PCRs for enabling improved consistency in evaluations for life cycle assessments” said Anne-Cecile Remont, TIP director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). “The tire PCRs are a proactive industry contribution to further environmental transparency, helping to reduce the environmental footprint of the tire lifecycle. This is an important industry commitment to improving environmental performance.”

The tire industry PCRs were developed to be suitable for EPD creation in any region of the world.

“UL Environment applauds the tire industry for its commitment to the development of the PCRs and is pleased to work with TIP to issue comprehensive PCRs that will enable the creation of EPDs in global markets,” said Anna Lasso, product manager of EPDs at UL Environment. “Because tires are a product that most of the population uses or encounters every single day, manufacturers who pursue EPDs have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment by better understanding their products’ environmental impacts.”

The final PCRs were published following the completion of a pilot phase that included expert review and testing by TIP members and sustainability consultancy, Quantis.

“We are very proud to have been part of this major collaborative project that successfully brought tire manufacturers from all over the world together to define common rules for measuring environmental performances of tires,” said Violaine Magaud, sustainability expert in the tire sector at Quantis.

The PCRs pilot process also involved participation from the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) for ‘Ecoleaf’ and the International EPD Program by EPD International, both integrating the tire PCRs in to their respective EPD programs.

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