Environmental Quality

Centro Ceramico offers assistance to ceramic factories interested in product environmental quality, performing activities of:

• assistance and advanced training in arranging the documents necessary to the submission of the request for certification, according to the rules established in the European Regulation EU 66/2010 for obtaining the EU-Ecolabel Environmental Quality Mark, and in accordance with the criteria established by Commission Decision 2009/607/EC, which includes the requirements for the release of the EU-Ecolabel Mark.

• assistance and advanced training in evaluating the LEED® compliant products, in order to assess the contribution that such products yields to the achievement of credits required for LEED Buildings Certification. Thereby, it is possible to communicate how products usefully contribute to the achievement of sustainability targets defined in the building assessment system, based on the credits defined in LEED® Protocols (US GBC and GBC Italy).

Centro Ceramico can also assist ceramic companies interested in Environmental Quality System, providing support activities for the design and development of Environmental Management Systems according to the requirements of EN ISO 14001, as well as to the requirements recommended by EC Regulation no. 1221/2009, for joining and registration of organisations in the EC eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS).

EU Ecolabel Mark

The EU Ecolabel (EC Regulation no. 66/2010) is the EU Environmental Quality Mark that awards the best products from the environmental point of view, that stand out compared to competing products on the market, thanks to their high performance standards. This environmental label certifies that the products to which it was awarded, contribute to the decrease of environmental impact during their whole life cycle (reduction of: natural resources, use of hazardous substances, energy consumption, air and water pollution), fostering environmental excellence and promoting the continuous improvement in environmental quality of the products themselves.
The EU Ecolabel Mark is a voluntary and demanding tool, widespread at European level, attesting environmental excellence of the products that comply with the thorough requirements established by Decision 2009/607/EC of July 9, 2009 (requirements respected by not more than 25-30% of the products currently on the market).
At present, in Italy, 8 licenses have been issued (see table), referred to organisations that produce ceramic tiles, granted with the Ecolabel Mark for various products from several commercial brands (see ISPRA website).
The EU Ecolabel Mark has become a tool of environmental communication and information, particularly interesting for Italian companies producing ceramic tiles, for which it can represent a very useful tool for their competitiveness, because environmental excellence is increasingly emerging as a criterion for choosing a product among those available on the market.
This is true particularly for the more developed and environmentally demanding markets (Northern Europe, USA, Canada), to which most of the produced ceramic tiles are exported.
Centro Ceramico carries out the tests and analysis required by Ecolabel certification, being Accredited Laboratory for the independent preliminary testing on the products belonging to “Hard Floor Coverings” Group, both by Accredia (Accreditation no. 0058, since 1993), and by Ministry of Productive Activities, since 2003.
Centro Ceramico assists companies for:

• analysis and assessment of the applicability of the Ecolabel criteria to their products
• collection and processing of data necessary to verify the compliance with the requirements
• preparation of the needed documents for the preliminary application for the granting of the EU Ecolabel Mark.