Environmental Statement
Environmental Statement
Keymark Corporation is the First AEC Member to Complete and Publish An EPD Using AEC’s EPD Generator Tool
April 23, 2026; Libertyville, Illinois – The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) congratulates Keymark Corporation for being the first AEC member company to complete and publish an Environmental Product Declaration using the new AEC EPD / Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Generator Tool.
The EPD/PCF Generator Tool is a member resource that was developed by SCS Global Services for the AEC Sustainability Team. Traditionally, an aluminum extruder facing customer demands for contemporary environmental information would contract with an environmental consultant; many months and many thousands of dollars later they would have the data.
“We concluded that there had to be a better way – a means of generating the desired data as well as testing “what ifs” quickly and cost effectively to understand how different factors play into the production of low carbon extrusions,” said AEC Sustainability Team leader Shane Tredup, President of Custom Aluminum Products in Sough Elgin, Illinois.
Architects pursuing additional Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits through the use of aluminum extrusion with low embodied carbon, automotive suppliers working to achieve the zero‑carbon goals set by their original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and consumer goods manufacturers aiming to promote environmentally responsible products are all driving the growing demand for current environmental data and low‑carbon materials.
AEC has created an online EPD and PCF generator designed to meet those needs efficiently.
The tool lets extruders both produce accurate environmental data and also gain a clear understanding of their own carbon footprints to develop effective carbon‑reduction strategies.
The generator tool enables extruders to evaluate how factors such as using billet produced with low‑carbon electricity versus coal‑fired power affect their overall carbon footprint and their customers’ EPDs.
“Working with my peers in the industry and with SCS has been a fantastic experience,” said Kassandra Keller, Sustainability Director at Keymark Corporation in Fonda, NY, and member of AEC’s Sustainability and Building & Construction Teams. “I have learned a great deal about the world of EPDs and sustainability in working on this project. I believe this tool will allow anyone to be able to produce an EPD for their company. Whether you are a sustainability expert or novice, the tool makes it easy to operate and generate data. We started with the EPD for our casthouse production. Given how important billet is in determining the overall carbon intensity of our products, this data gives us the foundation for our EPDs that will cover various extrusion products; we’re working on those now. This tool will allow us to stay up to date with our customers’ sustainability requirements and improve our own carbon footprint.”
The tool’s development cost was shared among those members who want to develop their own EPDs or PCFs at a significant savings compared to developing their EPD on their own. Then a nominal yearly cost is paid to program operator SCS Global Services for tool maintenance.
Our Investment For The Future
It is Keymark’s policy and responsibility to be environmentally friendly to the communities where we manufacture as well as the areas in which our extrusions are installed and maintained. We are continually focused on improving our aluminum extrusion manufacturing operations to reduce waste and maximize efficiency. The following are areas in which we demonstrate our dedication and efforts to eliminate those wastes, control pollution, and focus on recycling/recovery.
Casting
Keymark Corporation extrudes over eighty-percent of its weekly production lbs. from prime aluminum billet produced internally at our secondary casting facility. Over 38% of the aluminum billet is composed from recycled internal or outside purchased aluminum scrap. Documentation may be provided to help ensure the requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Dross, which is a waste by-product of the casting process (40,000/lbs. weekly), is sent to an aluminum smelter for continuous recycled use.
Due to the recent upgrade to the regenerative burners in the melting unit, this upgrade resulted in a reduction of 171.8 million cubic feet annually of natural gas savings. Also as a result of this upgrade, Keymark reduced 2.83 tons of carbon monoxide emissions annually.
Extrusion (Die Shop)
Caustic (Sodium Hydroxide) Scrubber Unit – Removes the caustic out of the air before exhausting to the atmosphere.
Paint Lines
Acetone and Xylene are used to clean the paint equipment and flush out the lines between color changes. They are 100% recycled on site and recovered for reuse.
Thermal Oxidizers – Keymark runs 3 thermal oxidizers on our paint lines. The 3 units have a destruction efficiency of 96% of the volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) removal rate prior to emission to the atmosphere. This destruction efficiency rate eliminates 799,677 lbs. annually of VOC emissions.
Waste Water Treatment – The painting process creates over 7.1 million gallons of anodizing waste water annually. The waste water goes through our full in-house water treatment system and we meet or exceed all (NYSDEC) New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and (USEPA) United States Environmental Protection Agency regulations prior to the water being discharged.
Anodizing
The anodizing process utilizes 2 chemical recovery units:
Caustic Recovery Unit – Removes dissolved aluminum from the caustic, thus allowing the caustic to be continuously re-used. This process eliminates 228 annual tons of waste (Aluminum Trihydrate) that would otherwise find it’s way to a local landfill. This material is given to an industry that uses it as a beneficial re-use product in their manufacturing process.
APU (Acid Purification Unit) – In the anodizing process, the APU removes excess aluminum from the solution and the solution is then returned back to the anodizing tanks for continuous re-use. This recovery prevents the need for treatment or wasting the used solution.
Waste Water Treatment – The anodizing process creates over 42 million gallons of anodizing waste water annually. The waste water goes through our full in-house water treatment system and we meet or exceed all (NYSDEC) New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation and (USEPA) United States Environmental Protection Agency regulations prior to the water being discharged.
Thermal Break
In the thermal break department, left over aluminum chips combined with polyurethane are inherent in the process, due to the debridging operation. The aluminum/polyurethane chips are not recycled internally, due to the toxicity of emissions if Keymark were to utilize our melting facility internally, instead the material is sent to a recycler for separation and re-use.
Packaging
All of our cardboard used in the packaging process is of 100% recycled content. Also, all of our leftover cardboard or scrap is then turned back over to a recycler.