Beyond "Bio-Based": How Durabella Holds Up Under a Real Carbon Lens
- Info F+F
- Jun 12
- 10 min read
What comes to mind when you hear “sustainable”? Sustainable food. Sustainable living. Sustainable buildings. The word has been handled so often, polished so carefully, and bent into so many shapes by companies and marketing teams eager to appear responsible without accepting the cost of responsibility. Architects at firms that truly believe in sustainability and the commitment it requires— at firms like Arup, SOM, or Gensler— know this exhaustion intimately. They've sat through enough carefully curated vendor presentations to recognize the ritual on sight: a photograph of a plant, a vague reference to "natural ingredients," and a promise of environmental responsibility that dissolves the moment you ask for proof with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
So let's not perform that ritual.
Instead, let's look at Durabella Biopolymer Terrazzo, or simply Durabella, with the kind of rigor your projects demand and the world requires.
The Baseline Problem: What We're Comparing Against
Before evaluating Durabella, it helps to understand the climate cost of the materials it’s replacing.
Traditional epoxy resin terrazzo, still the dominant specification for high-traffic seamless flooring in commercial, civic, and institutional projects, carries an embodied carbon footprint of roughly 35 kg CO₂e per square meter at the binder level alone. Nearly all that comes from the petrochemical feedstock: bisphenol-A epoxy systems derived from fossil-carbon precursors, processed through energy-intensive synthesis chains.
Polished Portland cement concrete is another common alternative, though not necessarily a more sustainable one. Cement contributes approximately 0.8 kg CO₂e per kg of clinker, multiplied across the depth of a typical pour.
These are the materials Durabella displaces.
What the Binder Actually Is and Why It Matters
The embodied carbon story in any flooring system lives largely in the binder. Aggregates like marble, glass, and stone are relatively carbon-stable. The binder is where the life cycle assessment (LCA) diverges sharply between conventional and bio-based systems.
Durabella's binder is derived from castor oil, a non-edible vegetable oil sourced from Ricinus communis. That fact matters for reasons far more substantial than the familiar comfort of "it comes from a plant":
1. It doesn't compete with the food supply.
Unlike soy or palm-derived biopolymers, castor is non-edible and predominantly grown in the semi-arid regions of India, Brazil, and China on marginal land with minimal irrigation. This sidesteps the land-use change (LUC) carbon penalty that complicates the LCA of many first-generation bio-based materials— a critique that derailed early enthusiasm for corn-based PLA for instance.
2. The carbon in the binder was recently atmospheric.
In LCA methodology, biogenic carbon accounting distinguishes between fossil carbon, which is dormant for millions of years before re-entering the cycle upon combustion or degradation, and biogenic carbon, which has recently cycled through the atmosphere via photosynthesis. The castor plant sequesters atmospheric CO₂ as it grows. When that carbon is locked into a durable floor finish with a multi-decade service life, you're effectively delaying its return to the atmosphere.
3. It is Red List Free.
The Healthy Materials Lab's Red List and the Living Building Challenge's materials prohibitions identify the “worst in class” industry substances that pose serious risks to human health and the environment. These chemicals of concern include but are not limited to ortho-phthalates, chlorinated compounds, and bisphenol-A. Durabella's binder contains none of these. For projects pursuing Living Building Challenge certification or targeting material health credits under LEED v4.1's Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credits, Durabella offers that safeguard.
What the EPD Actually Says
Durabella has a fully verified Environmental Product Declaration, issued April 2024, valid until 2029, calculated in SimaPro 9.1.1 against EcoInvent 3.6, independently verified by So. Sustainability per ISO 14025:2011, ISO 14040/14044, and EN 15804+A2:2019.
This is the gold standard for embodied carbon data. It’s the format that slots directly into EC3, feeds whole-building LCAs, and satisfies the data quality requirements for LEED's Whole Building LCA credit pathway.
The declared functional unit is one square meter at 10mm thickness. The scope is cradle-to-gate with options, covering modules A1–A5, B2, C1–C4, and Module D.
The headline GWP figures per m²:
Indicator | Value |
GWP-total (A1–A3, cradle to gate) | 1.62 kg CO₂e/m² |
GWP-fossil | 8.10 kg CO₂e/m² at A1 |
GWP-biogenic | -6.76 kg CO₂e/m² at A1 |
Reference service life | 50 years |
End-of-life recyclability | 99% |
Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) | None |
With a GWP-biogenic of -6.76 kg CO₂e/m², this means the castor oil binder sequesters substantially more atmospheric carbon than what the entire product emits during raw material extraction and manufacturing. In EN 15804+A2 methodology, biogenic carbon is tracked separately, carbon stored in bio-based materials is declared as a negative value (sequestration) at A1, and would only be released at end of life. With a 50-year reference service life, that sequestered carbon remains locked in the building for half a century. This is not a theoretical benefit but a declared, verified figure in a third-party EPD.
To compare the total GWP against conventional alternatives:
Material | Approx. Embodied Carbon (kg CO₂e/m²) | Source |
Traditional epoxy terrazzo | ~35 | See Footnote |
Polished concrete (Portland cement) | ~15–25 | See footnote |
Vinyl composition tile (VCT) | ~8–12 | See footnote |
Linoleum | ~2–5 | See footnote |
Durabella Biopolymer Terrazzo | 1.62 (EPD verified) | See footnote |
This level of accuracy is supported by independently verified documentation, giving you data that can be presented directly to an Arup engineer with confidence.
How impact accumulates over time: Use phase and end of life
A cradle-to-gate number is only part of the picture. Sophisticated carbon accounting, the kind sustainability engineers at firms like Arup model through tools like EC3 or One Click LCA, insist on looking at the full lifecycle. It only makes sense after all to follow the material forward, into the building, into maintenance cycles, into demolition, where most environmental impact quietly accumulates.
The use phase is where Durabella begins to distinguish itself in more structural ways that are often overlooked in conventional flooring LCAs.
Because it is a seamless, jointless system applied in liquid form, there is no grout, no sealant joints, and no mechanical fasteners. The EPD's B2 maintenance module assumes a straightforward maintenance regime consisting of water and a neutral cleaning agent on an annual cycle. The contrast becomes more apparent when compared with common alternatives such as vinyl tile, which typically require periodic stripping and refinishing using chemical-intensive floor finishes. Over decades of operation, those interventions contribute additional carbon impacts and chemical exposure that rarely factor into early specification discussions, despite becoming a meaningful part of the material's overall lifecycle performance.
Durability, as a carbon strategy, is under-discussed and under-appreciated in flooring LCA discussions. The EPD sets Durabella's Reference Service Life at 50 years, supported by the SBR levensdurengids for stone-type flooring, and notes that terrazzo is known to last over 100 years with proper maintenance. A floor that lasts 50 years without replacement is, from a carbon standpoint, categorically superior to a floor replaced at year 15, even if the replacement product has a lower cradle-to-gate GWP.
Durabella's flexibility reinforces its claim to longevity. As a system designed to move with the substrate, it avoids the micro-cracking and joint failures that typically initiate premature replacement cycles in rigid finishes and extends functional life in ways that directly lower the annualized carbon cost per year of service.
Finally, end-of-life is where Durabella's EPD becomes especially notable. The declared end-of-life scenario routes 99% of material to recycling, with only 1% allocated to landfill. Module D captures the benefits of this recovered material, a net positive load beyond the system boundary. For specifiers concerned about whole-lifecycle accountability, this closes the loop in a way most flooring systems cannot claim.
Certifications and Documentation: What Exists and What It Covers
Because Durabella is often specified on projects pursuing BREEAM and LEED certification, the conversation inevitably turns to what those systems actually measure.
LEED v4.1, for example, doesn't certify products. It evaluates projects, awarding credits based on how individual products support the project's environmental objectives. For manufacturers, that shifts the focus away from broad sustainability claims and toward documentation: the data, disclosures, and third-party verification that allow a design team to make informed decisions at the building scale.
With the verified EPD and Red List Free status now in hand, Durabella is positioned to contribute to:
MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Environmental Product Declarations - the EPD, verified per EN 15804+A2, satisfies this credit's data quality requirements directly
MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients - Red List Free status, zero SVHC
MR Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Sourcing of Raw Materials - bio-based, rapidly renewable binder content
MR Credit: Construction and Demolition Waste Management - seamless systems generate minimal installation waste; the EPD documents 5% construction loss factor
Whole Building LCA pathway - the EPD's GWP data is formatted for direct input into tools like EC3 or One Click LCA
For BREEAM, the material health and responsible sourcing categories apply similarly.
Critically, the EPD is not a self-declared document. The credibility of this documentation rests not only on what it claims, but on how it was produced. It was independently verified by So. Sustainability, calculated using SimaPro 9.1.1 against EcoInvent 3.6, and issued under the Dutch NMD program (Stichting NMD) - one of the more rigorous EPD program operators in Europe. It is valid until April 2029.
The Specification Conversation
When Durabella is specified, the case for the material rests on documented performance. The binder chemistry is formulated without fossil-carbon feedstocks and stores recently atmospheric carbon within a durable matrix designed for a 50-year service life. At the manufacturing stage (A1), the material records a GWP-biogenic value of -6.76 kg CO₂e/m². It is also free of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and carries Red List Free status.
Most significantly, the third-party verified EPD, prepared in accordance with EN 15804+A2, reports a cradle-to-gate embodied carbon value of 1.62 kg CO₂e/m². Conventional epoxy terrazzo is typically reported at approximately 35 kg CO₂e/m² under comparable boundaries. The result is an embodied carbon reduction of roughly 95 percent, supported by published lifecycle assessment data rather than assumptions about material origin.
Beyond manufacturing impacts, Durabella's EPD reflects a 50-year reference service life, minimal maintenance inputs, and an end-of-life scenario that routes 99% of the material to recycling. The documentation is independently verified, transparent, and ready for use in lifecycle assessment models.
The result is an environmental claim grounded in quantifiable performance— one that can be evaluated, tested, and compared using the same metrics applied to any other building product.
A Note on Honest Limits
The presence of a verified EPD does not mean every variable has been settled. Like all lifecycle assessments, it reflects the current state of environmental accounting—a discipline that continues to refine how impacts are measured, modeled, and compared.
Biogenic carbon accounting
This remains methodologically contested at the industry level. EN 15804+A2 requires separate reporting of GWP-biogenic, which Durabella's EPD does correctly. But how project teams and rating systems credit stored biogenic carbon varies. Some whole-building LCA tools treat it as a direct offset, while others are more conservative. It’s important you know your tool's methodology before citing the -6.76 figure in a project carbon budget.
Supply chain transparency
The transparency across the supply chain for castor oil feedstock, country of origin, agricultural practices, land-use history, is not publicly detailed at the level a rigorous practitioner might want for a full cradle-to-cradle assessment. The EPD's geographic scope is declared as Netherlands (production), with EcoInvent background data for upstream processes.
The EPD is representative of the Netherlands production context
For North American projects, transport distances (module A4) will differ from the 1 km baseline used in the declaration and should be updated accordingly in project-specific LCA calculations.
These are not exceptions unique to Durabella. They are part of how environmental product declarations work. Every EPD reflects a set of assumptions, boundaries, and scenarios that help standardize comparison across products. The responsibility of the design team is to understand those parameters and adapt them where necessary to reflect real project conditions.
The Bottom Line with Spec-tacular Stewardship
No material arrives without tradeoffs, and Durabella is no exception. The question for specifiers is whether the available data demonstrates a meaningful improvement over conventional alternatives.
In this case, the evidence points to a substantially lower embodied carbon profile, documented material health credentials, and a level of transparency that allows project teams to evaluate the product on its merits. Those qualities do not guarantee specification, but they justify serious consideration on projects where carbon, health, and certification goals are part of the brief.
The conversation is ultimately larger than a single flooring system. As performance expectations rise, materials are increasingly judged by what can be measured, verified, and compared. Durabella's contribution may not a perfect sustainability story, but it is a well-documented one.
That is what responsible specification looks like: informed by evidence, shaped by context, and grounded in measurable outcomes. SPEC-tacular by design, not by accident.
Finish + Form connects architects and designers to sustainable, high-performance materials with the specification support, samples, and documentation to bring projects to life. To explore Durabella for your next project, schedule a consultation.
Footnote
Epoxy terrazzo: The ~35 kg CO₂e/m² figure reflects the embodied carbon intensity of conventional epoxy resin binders, which are derived from bisphenol-A petrochemical feedstocks. For reference, Diespeker & Co's published comparison of Durabella against traditional epoxy resin terrazzo cites epoxy at 35 kg CO₂e/m² vs. Durabella at 1.6 kg CO₂e/m². Manufacturer EPDs for epoxy terrazzo systems (e.g., Key Resin Company Epoxy Terrazzo EPD10942, NSF International, issued March 2024; Sherwin-Williams RESUFLOR TERRAZZO TG EPD10171) confirm that resins and primary pigments represent the dominant GWP contributors in these systems.
Polished concrete (Portland cement): GWP range reflects typical in-situ concrete floor construction at 100–150mm depth. Portland cement (CEM I) carries approximately 812–840 kg CO₂e per tonne per UK Mineral Products Association sector EPDs; applied to a concrete floor at standard slab thickness and typical mix design (approx. 300 kg cement/m³), this yields embodied carbon in the 15–25 kg CO₂e/m² range at cradle-to-gate for the floor finish layer. The University of Bath / Circular Ecology ICE Database (v3.0) and the Carbon Leadership Forum's EC3 tool are standard references for concrete floor LCA benchmarking.
Vinyl composition tile (VCT): Based on industry-wide EPDs for 2mm VCT from multiple manufacturers, including Armstrong Flooring (Excelon® VCT, ASTM-certified EPD, ISO 14025/EN 15804/ISO 21930) and AHF Contract (Iliad™/Highlights™ VCT EPD). GWP for VCT at cradle-to-grave over a standard service life falls in the 8–12 kg CO₂e/m² range; the primary carbon driver is PVC resin production. The Healthy Building Network / Perkins&Will report Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Gypsum Drywall and Flooring (2024) identifies resilient flooring service life and vinyl content as the key embodied carbon levers in this category.
Linoleum: Bio-based linoleum such as Forbo Marmoleum carries a verified cradle-to-gate GWP of approximately 0.395 kg CO₂e/m² for 2.5mm Marmoleum Modular (independent EPD), with total cradle-to-grave lifecycle GWP cited at approximately 2.94 kg CO₂e/m² per Tarkett linoleum EPD (UL-certified). Linoleum's biogenic carbon uptake from linseed oil, wood flour, and resin can make it carbon negative at cradle-to-gate; full lifecycle figures including maintenance and end-of-life vary by product and methodology. Range cited here reflects realistic cradle-to-grave for commercial linoleum specification.
Durabella Biopolymer Terrazzo (Available from Finish + Form upon request): GWP-total of 1.62 kg CO₂e/m² (modules A1–A3) per Duracryl International BV Environmental Product Declaration, calculation number ReTHiNK-70423, independently verified by So. Sustainability per ISO 14025:2011, ISO 14040/14044, EN 15804+A2:2019. Issued 15 April 2024, valid until 15 April 2029. Functional unit: 1m² at 10mm thickness. LCA calculated in SimaPro 9.1.1 against EcoInvent v3.6. GWP-biogenic: -6.76 kg CO₂e/m² (A1). Reference service life: 50 years.
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