Dear Members,

The Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) is pleased to announce a collaborative partnership with the National Research Council (NRC) Canada to develop regionalized life cycle assessment (LCA) reports and life cycle inventory (LCI) datasets that are representative of simple asphalt mixtures from typical plants which are commonly utilized throughout Canada, particularly in Ontario with well-established road networks, encompassing significant highways and arterial roads.
 
 We aim to rely on generic upstream materials and energy data to ensure that Industry-Wide (Generic) Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) represent standard practices and products. The outcomes of this project will be made publicly available in national and international databases.
 
The goal of publishing these LCA reports and LCI datasets is to help support the following:

1. Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impacts from Canadian infrastructure, including roads.
2. Competitiveness of the Canadian industry by disclosing their environmental performance.
3. Practice of LCA by preparing harmonized and publicly available LCA/LCI datasets of good quality that can be incorporated into LCI databases, LCA modelling software, LCA/EPD calculators, and whole-building LCA tools.

Ontario asphalt producers can also use these reports and data to develop third-party verified provincial average EPDs for the respective industry member’s products. Another goal of this project is to work with the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) team to expand the Asphalt Mixture LCA that NAPA is the Program Operator for, along with NAPA’s Emerald Eco-Label EPD tool, so that they are applicable to Ontario.

ORBA/OAPC has hired WAP Sustainability, a sustainability consultant, to facilitate the execution of this project.

Please review the enclosed project outline to learn more about what is involved and how you can help the industry achieve its decarbonization targets.

Additional information will be provided on March 26th in the upcoming ORBA Webinar Series.