During this last quarter, I have had the opportunity to be part of an aggressive development project related to revisions to existing Product Category Rules (PCRs) for the following plumbing fixtures: electronic bidet seats, residential toilets, commercial lavatory faucets, commercial toilets, and commercial urinals. My guess is the first question you might have is — What is a PCR? As with most codes and standards activities, there are several acronyms involved in explaining the purpose of PCRs and the potential impact of the initiative on your business. So let me provide some background.
A PCR is the product category-specific requirement for conducting life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and reporting their findings through Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). An EPD report tells the life cycle story of a product in a single, comprehensive report. The EPD provides information about a product’s impact upon the environment, such as global warming potential, smog creation, ozone depletion and water pollution. Finally, an LCA is to quantify the environmental impacts that arise from material inputs and outputs, such as energy use or air emissions, over the product’s entire life cycle (production, distribution, installation, use and disposal) to assist consumers in making decisions that will benefit the environment.