Product Brochure

You can’t just
say things.
It’s one thing to claim that a product is environmentally
friendly. It’s quite another to prove it. The CRA engaged
the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial
Materials (CORRIM) to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA). The goal of the study was to quantify and compare
the environmental impacts of a 100 sq. ft. redwood deck
to a similar deck made of plastic and wood-plastic
composite material over a 25-year lifespan in
what is known as a cradle-to-grave LCA.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed
an LCA method called TRACI (Tool for the Reduction
and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental
Impacts) and it has grown to become the dominant
impact assessment method used in North America.
The results of the LCA are presented here so that
consumers looking for environmentally sound
building materials can make an informed decision
based on facts rather than marketing claims.
0%
10%
-10
%
-20
%
-
3
0
%
-40
%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Smog
Global Warming
Ozone Depletion
Air Pollution
Acid Rain
Water Pollution
Life Cycle Assessment
Plastic Composite Redwood