sustainable building products 61
This gypsum waste has been separated and recovered for re-use in the manufacturing process, creating a full sustainable close-loop lifecycle for plasterboard
Close the loop – gypsum to gypsum
Steve Hemmings, head of EHS & Sustainability at Siniat explains why housebuilders and suppliers need to work together and do more for sustainability
have started taking steps to solve the problem. Although we’re all making great progress in becoming greener, we haven’t quite crossed the threshold to the greener-other-side. We have yet to shake off the consume-dispose culture of the past; we still need the latest phones, computers and cars, and the sheer pace of product and tech- nical innovation means the materials we’re using are getting more complex making it difficult for manufacturers to use reclaimed materials only. What we call a linear economy – produce-
I
consume-dispose – is unsustainable. We have already recognised that we need to work recy- cling into our everyday lives. However, because
n the last decade the global economy has taken note of the dwindling supply of resources left to us, and more recently we
most recycling efforts reduce the quality of the material being recycled, often we’re just reducing the rate at which we consume rather than closing the circle.
“We have already recognised that we need to work recycling into our everyday lives However, because most recycling efforts reduce the quality of the material being recycled, often we’re just reducing the rate at which we consume ather than closing the circle”
Close the loop
European Construction is a key area where inefficiencies need to be indentified and improved upon. The sector produces 33 per cent of the EU’s generated waste according to the most recent Eurogypsum report. As the report highlights, gypsum, the core
material in plasterboard, is one of many materials we could be using more efficiently. It’s also the only material used in construction that an be recycled indefinitely without its quality being affected. Gypsum is a mineral found in abundance in
the Earth’s crust that humans have quarried for millennia to create plaster. Gypsum was first used for creating plaster in Asia at around 9,000 BC,
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