KNAUF INSULATION AND VEOLIA

As the market leader and a non-stop innovator, quality excellence and sustainability are at the heart of everything we do.

In 2017, Knauf Insulation entered into a long term contract with leading resource management company, Veolia, to create a state-of-the-art glass cullet processing facility, next to their manufacturing plant in St. Helens, Merseyside, UK. This means that their Glass Mineral Wool insulation solutions contain up to 80% of recycled materials.

Now operating to its full capacity, the facility gives yearly a new lease of life to over 60,000 tonnes of used glass bottles and jars collected from households, as it cleans, separates and refines it into high purity raw materials to be used in the manufacturing of high performance, energy-saving insulation solutions.

Veolia’s world-first facility uses the latest technology to sort and separate glass at a micro-level with exceptional accuracy, delivering an ultra-pure glass cullet. The state of the art machinery includes vibrating screens for size sorting, magnets to extract ferrous materials and eddy current separators for non-ferrous materials.

The new facility enables Knauf Insulation to secure its glass supply and maximise the use of recycled materials instead of virgin minerals. Also the proximity of the new facility will save approximately 375,000 miles of road journeys.

The glass collected equates to over 350 million bottles thrown out yearly – which could otherwise end up in landfill or pollute our environment. With a £10M investment and a decade long commitment from Knauf Insulation, both companies are demonstrating their dedication to sustainable and circular manufacturing.

See our latest video to learn more about how we are setting the standards for mainstream recycling and paving the way in the area of circular economy.

John Sinfield: Managing Director explains the importance of Knauf Insulation's partnership with Veolia.

"The partnership with Veolia is really important as it’s a statement of intent to the group to work with a supplier with the quality and scope of Veolia. It’s also important because we’ve got a good, solid, stable raw material supply which gives Knauf the comfort to go into the market and to build and service our customers adequately. From a business perspective, it means that the quality of the cullet coming in supports the process and delivers the best results as we melt and spin the fibres."