Dave Henderson & Gary Yoder on Comparative Life Cycle Assessment in the Asphalt Industry

In this episode, Kaitlyn Allen talks with Dave Henderson and Gary Yoder.  Dave is the Vice President of Specialty Products for Asphalt Materials, Inc., a Heritage Group company. He has been in the asphalt industry for 30 years and has commercialized multiple asphalt technologies throughout the United States, China, and Brazil. Dave has an undergraduate degree in Finance and an MBA and lives in Zionsville, IN, with his wife, Dani. Gary is the Vice President of Environmental Services at ClimeCo. He has 30 years of experience primarily providing environmental compliance consulting services to industrial sector clients. Gary has been with ClimeCo for 8 years and currently supports and manages projects within their Sustainability, Policy, and Advisory team. He has a Master's in Meteorology and works out of Raleigh, North Carolina. We invite our listeners to ‘get in the weeds’ on the topic of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to understand what goes into this process and why companies undertake them, all centered around a case study that is a Resource Boost listed below. In short, an LCA is designed to answer the question: How sustainable is a product or process? This differs from a Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA), a project management tool that analyzes the most cost-effective options based on the desired outcomes. Listen as Kaitlyn, Dave, and Gary guide us through the journey of a LCA through the lens of the asphalt industry (the most recycled material in the US by weight), discussing the what, the why, and the how, as it provides a solid foundation for this concept. In typical ESG Decoded fashion, this discussion is chock full of valuable terms and acronyms, including J-band, LCCA, ISO, PCR, and EPD. This serves as a great foundation for the ESG novice and a helpful reminder for the seasoned ESG pro. Check out the Resource Boosts for this episode: ·  J-Band ·  Asphalt Materials, Inc. ·  Yoder & Sidhu (2022) “What is a Life Cycle Assessment?” ClimeCo. ·  EPD – Environmental Product Declarations (The EPD Registry) ·  ISO 14040:2006 - Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework ·  ISO 14044:2006 - Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines Subscribe to ESG Decoded, where you consume your podcasts and connect via social media to share your feedback and topic suggestions. Enjoy this episode!