CAP : ACERO formalizes its Products Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

Under the ISO and EN 15804 norms

CAP Acero, a company of the CAP Group, officially launched its Products Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), a milestone that positions it as the first national company to obtain this certification for "Steel Concrete Reinforcement Rods", under the EN 15804 European norm. It is also the third Chilean company to obtain a Products Environmental Impact Statement through the DAPCO program.

The report began to be developed in December of 2013 with the purpose of presenting consumers with verifiable and concise information regarding the environmental impacts associated to steel rods. This allows CAP products to be compared, within the region as well as in Europe, in terms of their environmental behavior.

Rodrigo Vera, Head of Marketing and Business Management at CAP Acero, said that this achievement "is an opportunity for the company to be transparent about its processes, as well as improving them". He additionally stated that "obtaining the PEIS under the ISO and EN 15804 norms demonstrates CAP Acero's commitment towards sustainability as well as towards satisfying industry needs".

Quality construction products that contribute to obtaining the LEED certification

Among the materials supplied by CAP Acero to the construction industry are concrete rebar, CAP-SOL rods, wire rods, and helical rods.

The most relevant material in this field is concrete rebar (BH CAP) that has a Products Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the European and Latin American 15804 norm. This material contain 20% post-consumer recycled content related to recycled scrap iron integrated as a steel component; the material also includes 100% regional content, considering a building in Santiago as reference point. All of these characteristics allow the BH CAP to contribute towards obtaining the LEED Certification for buildings that wish to receive a seal of sustainability.

Patricio Rojas, Business Manager of the company, indicated that "CAP Acero has a long history developing steel products with a wide range of knowledge regarding the most up to date technologies in the field of metallurgy. Its integrated steel production condition allows it to offer the market extremely pure steel rods that can be differentiated from the rest of the products present in the market. We can state with great satisfaction that both the Costanera Center and Titanium buildings were built using CAP steel rods exclusively, and both structures withstood the earthquake of February 27, 2010 with no damage whatsoever. In the field of mining, we have developed together with our clients steel for manufacturing grinding balls with high levels of resistance to impact, and wear and tear", he added.

The new welding ready concrete rebar CAP-SOL was launched in the market in August of 2013. This product joins high levels of resistance, a characteristic that is typical of the BH CAP A 630, and the weldability that structural steel has. The ability to combine both of these properties in one material is a completely new attribute within the national steel industry, providing important opportunities for the mining and construction sectors. The CAP-SOL rods are used for reinforcement structures in mining, such as cross-linked frameworks for tunnels, preformed structures, pillars, electro-welded wire mesh, among other uses.

Regarding this, Rojas commented that the incorporation of the new rods into the catalogue of products offered by CAP represented the constant search for innovation that is a defining characteristic of the company. To this end, the company tries to solve all new problems that both its clients and end users experience, thus contributing towards the optimum development of their projects.

What is the LEED Certification?

Just as it did in its previous version, the latest version of the LEED Certification emphasizes and awards the manufacturing location of the product over the product in itself. In this aspect, CAP Acero, which participates in the Materials and Resources category, developed important initiatives such as the Sustainability Report, the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and the PEIS according to European standards that today reaffirm, enhance, and strengthen its presence in the obtainment of the much sought after environmental certification.