CERTIFICATION Made Green in Italy 

This Environmental Footprint Declaration concerns cast iron castings produced in the plant in:
Via Italia 70/72, Villa Carcina (Brescia) Italy. 

The product studied corresponds to the code of the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA): C24.51. Cast iron castings. 

The conventional definition of cast iron is a ferro-carbon alloy where iron is the predominant element and where carbon is present in a content greater than 2%. When the carbon content is less than 2%, the alloy is called Steel [1]. In terms of usage, cast iron may have a large number of end uses.

[1] . For some chromium steel castings, it is possible to have a carbon content higher than 2%, typically between 2,06% to 2,10%.

The present “Environmental Product Footprint – “Cast iron casting”” refers to the study “Product Environmental Footprint of the cast iron castings produced by Fonderie Guido Glisenti S.p.a. in Villa Carcina plant – Ver.01 of 23/11/2022”.

The document has been submitted ad verified by an independent entity (Bureau Veritas).

Environmental statements for different schemes are not comparable.

The following rules and recommendations have been used to conduct the study and this declaration:

• ISO 14040:2021 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework 

• ISO 14044:2021 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines 

• Raccomandazione 2021/2279/EU Commission Recommendation on the use of common methodologies to measure and communicate environmental performance throughout the life cycle of products and organisations. 

• Product Category Rules (PCR) on Iron Castings (NACE 24.51) version 1.0 of May 2022; 

• Regulation for the implementation of the voluntary national scheme for the evaluation and communication of the environmental footprint of products, called «Made Green in Italy», referred to in article 21, paragraph 1, of law n.221 of the 28th of December 2015. 

In relation to the key aspects of the functional unit, these are defined below: 

Table1: Key aspects of the functional unit

The reference flow is the quantity of product required to fulfil the defined function and is measured in tons. All quantitative input and output data collected in the study are calculated with respect to this reference flow, which corresponds to the net ton of raw material output at the gate of the plant.
It should be noted that in order to obtain a functional product unit for its use, losses of raw material from the production stage (yield from the foundry process) are included in the production calculation.
 

The product under study was built considering an average recipe of types of cast iron produced over a representative year of company production. Fonderie Guido Glisenti uses only induction electric furnaces and green sand moulding system for production. 

The table below summarizes the main production characteristics of the product under study. 

Table2:Definition of the Product under study

There were no methodological deviations on the impact categories used, compared to what is required by the PEF. Other methodological limitations are: 

→ The data sets used are not EF (Environmental Footprint) compliant datasets, as these datasets are only available for PEF/OEF studies conducted according to the PEF/CR published on the website: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/PEFCR_OEFSR.htm

Some processes were excluded from the modelling process, as reported in the related PCR: 

→ packaging for the supply of raw materials and auxiliary materials; most of these are supplied unpacked on trucks; the share of raw materials and auxiliary materials with packaging is minimal and therefore has a not relevant impact;; 

→ the company’s infrastructure and production plants because considering the depreciation, the impact on an annual basis is not relevant. 

 

For the product under study the quality of the data is very good. 

The characterized results of the study are presented below. 

Table3: Characterized impact results for the cast iron rough casting product 

The figure below presents the impacts by life cycle phase for the product under study.

Figure1: Life cycle impacts for 1 ton of cast iron 

The most relevant impact categories found in this study are, in order of relevance: 

• Climate change 

• Particulate matter 

• Resource use, fossils 

• Ecotoxicity, freshwater 

• Resource use, minerals and metals 

• Eutrophication, freshwater 

 

 

The most relevant processes for cast iron castings are represented by: 

Table4: Most significant processes for the relevant impact categories 

The sum of the weighted score of the three impact categories indicated in the reference PCR is equivalent to 116.07 mPt, which classifies Fonderie Guido Glisenti ductile cast iron castings product in A class.. 

There are three expected performance classes (A, B and C) and are defined by the benchmark value and the upper and lower thresholds, calculated for the representative product “raw cast iron castings”. 

In particular, products whose impact calculated as a single value (the sum of the weighted results of the three most relevant impact categories) is greater than the upper threshold value shall be classified in Class C. Products whose impact calculated as a single value (the sum of the weighted results of the three most relevant impact categories) is less than the lower threshold value shall be classified in Class A. Products whose impact calculated as a single value (the sum of the weighted results of the three most relevant impact categories) is between the upper and lower threshold values shall be classified in Class B.

The values of the benchmark and the definition of the environmental performance classes are listed below. 

 

Table 7: Benchmark as a single value 

Table 8 Environmental performance classes 

For the product studied, it was calculated the sum of the weighted results of the three most relevant impact categories defined in the PCR. 

Table 9: Calculation of environmental performance class for cast iron casting 

The single score calculated for the raw cast iron casting is 116,07 mPt, below the threshold value of 141,44 mPt; therefore, the product studied is in class A.
The impact of the cast iron produced by Fonderie Guido Glisenti is below the benchmark of 116,07-163,92 = -47,85 mPt (-29,19 %) and is lower than the class A threshold of 116,07-141,44 = -25,37 mPt (-17,94%). 

These good results were achieved thanks to a resource efficiency strategy that the foundry has been pursuing for several years.