Medite Smartply adopts innovative life cycle assessment technology

The web-based application tool, developed in Holland by EcoChain BV, provides a comprehensive environmental management service, as well as delivering life cycle assessments (LCA) and environmental product declarations (EPD) on all manufactured products.

Speaking on this new development, Medite Smartply head of innovation David Murray said: “As well as providing us with LCAs and EPDs for our entire MDF and OSB product range, the EcoChain tool allows us to benchmark, monitor and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as we continually invest and modernise our processes. We can also analyse the environmental impacts of the materials we purchase, so that they too can be substituted by lower impact materials when the opportunities arise. This is very important for Medite Smartply and our customers as the Paris agreement on climate change comes into force and there are now legally binding limits on global temperature rise.”

“In 2013, our parent company Coillte won the prestigious Millicom Award for environmental and corporate sustainability at the European Business Awards, so this exciting new development for Medite Smartply builds on our market leadership position in sustainable and innovative wood products. With this application we know with confidence that we too are playing our own role in continually improving our environmental performance, and thereby helping our customers and specifiers to do likewise. The EcoChain tool also reports on other environmental factors such as water use, impacts on air quality, and depletion of resources.”

EcoReview Ireland manager Peter Seymour added: “We are delighted that Medite Smartply see the value in the EcoChain application, which already has many hundreds of satisfied users in continental Europe. Medite Smartply will benefit from the EcoChain tool as a means of improving their environmental performance and providing them with EPDs for all their products.”