Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Spain: URSA says it used 35,800t of recycled materials to produce glass wool and extruded polystyrene (XPS) products in 2023. Just under 70% of the raw materials used to manufacture glass wool and XPS came from waste streams from sectors including car and food manufacture.

The subsidiary of Belgium-based Etex has also been granted a new Environmental Quality Assurance certifying that it recycles at least 60% of the raw materials used in its glass wool. Other recent sustainability milestones include an increase in the amount of recycled material the company uses in its packaging. Glass wool products from its El Pla de Santa Maria plant contain a primary sheet with a minimum of 50% of recycled plastic and the packaging of its XPS range includes a primary sheet with up to 30% of recycled plastic.

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.

UK: Knauf Insulation plans to upgrade two of its glass wool insulation plants in the UK at a cost of Euro53.7m. The upgrades consist of a packaging equipment upgrade at the Cwmbran, Torfaen, insulation plant and the replacement of the furnace and connected equipment at its St Helens, Merseyside, insulation plant, as well the acquisition of land adjacent to the latter from NSG Group. As a result of its upgrade, the Cwmbran plant will begin producing insulation slabs as well as rolls and blowing wool. The company said that the investments are a response to anticipated glass wool insulation demand growth on the back of the government’s Future Homes Standard energy efficiency policy.

Managing director Neil Hargreaves said “This series of investments will boost capacity as well as improve the range, availability and sustainability of our products.”

Germany: BASF has launched Neopor Mcycled expandable polystyrene (EPS) granulate, an EPS insulation raw material containing 10% recycled EPS waste. Building materials producer Karl Bachl collaborated in the product’s development.

Karl Bachl Managing Director Michael Küblbeck said “Today’s EPS insulation materials from the construction and packaging sectors can be fully recycled. At present, the high-quality recycled material is mainly sourced from waste streams from the packaging sector. That means we can already ensure that the recycled material is of the necessary high quality.”

Denmark: Tentoma has launched its new XL Power insulation panel packing machine. The supplier says that machine can pack up to 19m-long panels. At shorter lengths, it can stretch film for more panels per packaging cycle, increasing the packaging speed for the products by up to 25%. Tentoma built and sold its first XL Power packiaging machine to replace an orbital wrapper.

Ireland/UK: Knauf Insulation has launched a new packaging including new designs across the whole range, an upgrade to its compression technology and more environmentally-friendly packaging.

The new packaging designs feature bigger and clearer product names. Products are colour-coded into thermal conductivity groups consistent across the whole glass mineral wool range, and essential features such as the Euroclass A1 reaction to fire classification and Ecose Technology, Knauf Insulation’s unique bio-based binder, are more easily identifiable. The Earthwool brand has been phased out to simplify the branding structure, and a new brand, Rocksilk, has been introduced for its rock mineral wool product range. The insulation producer says that a further upgrade of the compression technology on the glass mineral wool range enables, on average, 15% more insulation per roll and 25% more packs on each pallet for slabs.

“We’ve listened to our customers, but we have also been proactive, trying to pre-empt future needs,” said Vanessa Rae, Marketing Director at Knauf Insulation Northern Europe. “We know how important it is to choose the right product for the application quickly, and move and store it efficiently, whether in-branch or on-site. We also know that sustainability matters more than ever, so we’ve taken these steps to reduce our products’ carbon footprint further so customers can rely on us to help them tick the green boxes for their projects.”

US: Owens Corning has presented Premier Tech with an award for Innovative Supplier of the Year – 2018 at its Annual Global Supplier Recognition Day in Toledo, Ohio that took place in late September 2018. The award recognises the engineering team’s contribution to developing high-performance, scalable automated packaging equipment that will allow Owens Corning to boost performance and meet growing workforce challenges.

Premier Tech’s Industrial Equipment Group is a supplier of industrial scalable packaging solutions and it says it is the largest robotic integrator in North America’s packaging industry. It is supported by a team of over 1700 people in 17 countries that serve clients in around 60 countries.

Russia: Rockwool has updated the package design of its Light Batts Skandic heat insulation material for private house building in Russia. The packaging now contains additional information signs, a barcode, information about the tiles’ geometry and the package volume. These were previously featured on a paper label. The new design is intended to aid customers understand how to use the product properly and calculate the necessary amount of the heat insulation.

Light Batts Skandic products with 50mm thick tiles are being produced in the renewed design at the Rockwool plant in Yelabuga. The plant in Vyborg will switch to the paper labelling by the end of August 2016.