Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Germany: Knauf Insulation has launched new overwraps on its global insulation product portfolio. The new packaging reduces ink consumption by 70% through its design, featuring a white or off-white base hue and no more than one additional colour. The wraps are designed to maximise ease and efficiency and reduce cost of recycling. This is in line with Knauf Insulation's commitment to recycle over 25% of packaging by 2025. Within the same timeframe, it also aims to reduce its packaging's virgin plastic consumption by 25% and collect over 35% of delivery pallets for repair and reuse or recycling.

Belgium: VIPA International, the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, has commented on new regulations on energy efficiency labelling ahead of a vote by the European Parliament. It believes that the current system of labelling is too complicated for consumers so it welcomes the work by the European Parliament and the European Council to develop a new scale for energy related products. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament is scheduled to take a vote on the issue on 14 June 2016

"We are convinced that the new energy label will be an important measure to correctly inform the European consumers on the actual energy efficiency performances of appliances, and we therefore support the work of the European Institutions in this direction," said Gregor Erbenich, Chairman of the Public Affairs Working Group of VIPA International.

VIPA International notes that the frequency of the rescaling will be a central issue to ensure the reliability of the label. Therefore, it recommends that any rescaling should be performed separately for each product, not via a fixed periodic review. It suggests that only simple and standardised information should be included in the database of energy efficient products. Finally, it recommends that all energy labels should be clearly visible in shops.