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Knauf Insulation Achieves New Industry Benchmark
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| May 20, 2012 |
Knauf Insulation is now validated by UL Environment to contain 61.9% post-consumer content by weight. Conducting its recycled content certification process twice yearly, Knauf improved this figure by 6.2% over the last six months.
“These levels weren’t considered possible just a few years ago,” notes Scott Miller, director of sustainability at Knauf Insulation. “While we’re proud of achieving such a high level, this is also a celebration of people who care about recycling. We appreciate the recycling effort of each and every individual who takes time to think about the future and how to positively affect it,” Miller says.
Over the last 5 years, Knauf Insulation has recycled approximately one billion pounds of post-consumer glass. The volume is equivalent to the glass waste of 14,000,000 households. “Or, to put it another way – 13 billion beverage bottles,” Miller explains.
“We empty many train cars of post-consumer glass every day. It’s a continuous, complex effort, and a tribute to the technical and logistical savvy of employees throughout Knauf Insulation.”
The post-consumer recycled content allows Knauf to use 15% less energy in the manufacturing of its insulation products.
“Recycled content has always been a priority for us. It makes phenomenal sense, also considering that it saves a lot of the manufacturing energy that virgin material would require. We've been able to improve our manufacturing and grow our volume of recycled content each year,” says Miller.
Knauf Insulation recognizes that the glass fiber insulation industry has taken great strides to embrace recycling. “Collectively, we have a massive effect. Here at Knauf Insulation, we’re confident that the recycling performance of our industry will still increase over time. Among all fiberglass insulation manufacturers in the U.S., we’re higher when it comes to post-consumer recycled content. We plan to keep improving on our post-consumer content as long as it is technologically and financially viable,” Miller says.
In terms of certifiable green building, the sustainability inherent in Knauf Insulation delivers a significant contribution. For every $1,000 spent on Knauf Insulation products in a LEED building, those products equate to $620 worth of LEED value. “That’s a calculation that takes into account percentage of recycled content for possible Materials and Resource credits. The LEED scoring advantage is greater with post-consumer content versus pre-consumer ( post-industrial) recycled content, “ Miller notes.
Furthermore, the binder which give the brown color to Knauf Insulation is 98%+ rapidly renewable thanks to its proprietary ECOSE biobased binder.
“The thing I really like to stress,” says Miller, “is the contribution of the individual consumer. All of our post-consumer content is derived from curbside glass pickup. It’s amazing and wonderful that you can take something that would otherwise be waste and turn it into a product that reduces resource consumption and continuously saves energy,” he explains.
“If people didn’t recycle, we wouldn’t be able to manufacture more sustainably – we’d use more energy in manufacturing and we’d have to extract material resources somewhere. Being part of such a sustainable cycle is wonderful. At Knauf Insulation, we also realize that as a greater society, we only recycle about 25% of all glass waste, so we appreciate the potential that exists as the recycling infrastructure advances.
“We also hear feedback from professionals who specify Knauf Insulation products. When someone takes the time to tell us that they appreciate the steps we take, admire our commitment and believe in the sustainable value of our products, it’s both compelling and really exciting.”
For more information about Knauf Insulation’s sustainability initiatives, call 800-825-4434 or visit http://www.knaufinsulation.us/.
About Knauf Insulation
Knauf Insulation is a leading global manufacturer of thermal and acoustical fiber glass insulations for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications. It’s Knauf Insulation’s number one priority to provide products and services that conserve energy and preserve natural resources for a sustainable future. The company’s insulation products have an inherent impact on energy consumption; once in use they save hundreds of times more energy than is required to make them. Knauf Insulation has met the stringent chemical emissions standards to achieve the GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification and is verified to be formaldehyde free.
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