Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning’s 16th Sustainability Report has detailed the producer’s progress towards achieving its 2030 sustainability goals. The report covers indicators under 16 topics to demonstrate its environnmental footprint reduction. These included lowering greenhouse gas emissions, increasing recycled content and circularity, improving energy and process efficiency, increasing renewable energy use and fuel switching from on-site fossil fuel use to lower or zero-carbon alternatives. Between 2007 and 2021, Owens Corning reduced its CO₂ emissions by 60%. In 2021, it recycled 635,000t of glass in its glass wool insulation production.

CEO Brian Chambers and senior vice president and chief sustainability officer (CSO) Frank O'Brien-Bernini said "We have established roadmaps to help our teams understand what’s needed to meet our environmental footprint reduction goals. These roadmaps guide our short, mid and long-term strategies, and help ensure that sustainability remains our priority as we innovate to serve our customers, while addressing both the challenges and the opportunities within the relevant secular trends." They continued "Beyond environmental footprint reduction 'within' our plants, we are working to refine our understanding and set measurable goals for our impact on biodiversity and the circular economy, as well as continually seeking better ways to measure our progress on social impact priorities like inclusion and diversity.”

US: The National Insulation Association (NIA) has announced the winners of its 2022 Safety Excellence Award and Premier Manufacturers Award winners. In the Safety Excellence Associate category, Johns Manville’s Denver, Colorado, plant, Knauf Insulation’s Shelbyville, Indiana, plant, Owens Corning’s Toledo, Ohio, plant and Proto Corporation’s Clearwater, Florida, plant all won Platinum awards. Meanwhile, the NIA’s Premier Industry Manufacturers for the year were Armacell, Johns Manville, Knauf Insulation and Owens Corning.

Belgium: Knauf Insulation has officially opened a new Euro15m glass mineral wool recycling plant in Visé. It will recycle the glass mineral wool as part of its ‘Resulation’ service. The site will also recycle production off-cuts from Knauf Insulation’s Visé glass mineral wool production plant using a dedicated production line and furnace. The inauguration event was attended by Olivier de Wasseige, managing director of the Walloon Enterprise Network.

Dominique Bossan, member of Knauf Group’s management committee and head of Knauf Insulation Europe, Middle East and Asia, said, “The new facility is an important step towards achieving Knauf Insulation’s commitment to generate zero waste to landfill by 2025 as part of the company’s ‘For A Better World’ sustainability strategy.

Knauf Insulation says that around 85,000t/yr of glass mineral wool waste are generated in France, while in Belgium and the Netherlands the figure is around 30,000t/yr with 26,000t of that total coming from demolition.

Singapore: Luxembourg-based Armacell has opened its new Singapore Customer Experience Centre workshop and training facility. Armacell says that the centre will also stock its thermal, mechanical and acoustic foam insulation products.

President and CEO Patrick Mathieu said "Asia is a strong growth driver for Armacell and we have been investing intensively in the region. This investment is a testament to our confidence in new business opportunities and also highlights our core value proposition as a superior systems solutions provider.”

Estonia: Insulation prices are reportedly 20% higher than prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to increased production costs. Members of the Estonian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ACE) have threatenened to terminate all public sector construction contracts due to untenable costs. Other building materials have risen in cost to as much as double their pre-invasion price.