Indicators as a Foundation of Eco-Labelling of Baked Clay Construction Products in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Construction products based on brick clay have been intensively used for the construction of buildings in the Republic of Serbia. The basic raw material for the manufacture of these products is brick clay, which is a natural mineral resource. However, the natural origin of clay provides no guarantees as to whether this group of construction products is eco-friendly. The production of baked clay construction products significantly affects the environment and cannot be neglected. The existing eco-labels used for this group of products are not uniform, in the world or in Serbia. The aim of this paper is to present a new approach to eco-labelling of construction products based on baked clay in the Republic of Serbia. Eco-labels can be given to products which meet certain authentic criteria. The criteria is based on an innovative set of 24 indicators which connect the production of construction products and the impact on the environment. Indicators were defined for the most commonly used construction products—facade brick, standard block and energy block. The research was conducted on leading producers of baked clay construction products in three regions—Northern Serbia, Western Serbia and South Pomoravlje. The obtained results indicate that one of the producers meets the criteria for innovative eco-labelling. The remaining two producers do not meet the requirements for the eco-label at the moment because there is not enough available data on the grounds of which certain indicators could be valued in a more complete manner. The data are unavailable to third parties because they are treated as a trade secret. Further research and an upgrade of the indicator set would create an opportunity to expand the number of baked clay construction products which could obtain the eco-label based on indicators.