Our commitment to sustainabilityOur contribution
Environmental impacts of our products
For each plant facility we are developing analyses of the lifecycle of our materials to establish Environmental Product Declaration (E.P.D.). These serve as a basis on which new materials with optimized performance characteristics can be developed.
Our life cycle analyses are developed according to the ISO 16040 standards. They consider all positive and negative contribution and impacts of our production to the environment, from cradle (raw material production) to grave (product end of life):
Natural, abundant and recycled raw materials
ISOVER glass wool insulation is manufactured from a combination of silica sand - one of the most abundant minerals on earth - and up to 80% recycled post-consumer glass from building regeneration projects or flat glass and bottle manufacture that would otherwise go to landfill. In average our glass wool contains upwards of 50% recycled glass. Glass is a material that can be recycled indefinitely. Stone wool uses natural rock such as basalt in the manufacture of the products.
We reduce process waste by instituting conservation measures. These measures include re-engineering manufacturing processes to incorporate production scrap back into the primary production process, or reprocessing it into other products.
Compressing glass wool
We have developed a patented process for compressing glass wool. Thanks to their elastic properties, products can be compressed by a factor of up to ten at the time of packaging (in rolls) and palletizing. This process offers numerous advantages in terms of:
- simpler logistics and lower transport costs;
- ease and safety of handling on construction sites when laying glass wool;
- streamlined waste management, due to the reduction in packaging materials.
A very positive energy and CO2 balance
Our insulation products help to reduce building energy demand. Saving fossil fuels also helps to reduce global warming, acid rain and smog.
The ISOVER manufacturing processes guarantee that any energy used to produce insulation is totally recovered by the energy savings generated when the product is in situ.
In its lifetime (usually 50 years), a typical ISOVER insulation product saves more than 100 times the energy consumed and the CO2 emitted in its manufacture, transport and disposal. The CO2 and energy balance switches to positive only a few months after installation
Waste
Analyses confirm that mineral wool waste can be deposited without problems at ordinary landfill sites for mineral waste with low organic content. All our products can be recycled if the infrastructure exists.
Sand
Sand can be found virtually everywhere - in rivers, oceans, air, mountains and glaciers. It is the final product of rock weathering, an important part of the rock cycle. Much more raw sand is generated annually than is used by man, and therefore sand can be considered as rapidly renewable.
One m² of a 100 mm
Example for one m² of a 100 mm ISOVER glass wool product over 50 years use in a French building (wall insulation, lambda 0,032 W/m.K, produced in Orange, France)
Detailed information available in the environmental product declaration