Mineral Fibre Waste Streams and Recycling Potential
topic
Mineral fibre waste streams from manufacturing scrap, construction demolition, and composite end-of-life include glass wool insulation recycled at up to 30 percent into new glass wool production, mineral wool incorporating recycled content from steel slag and recycled glass batch, and glass fibre composite recyclate from thermal and mechanical recycling used as filler and short fibre reinforcement in lower-specification applications.
Role
Addresses the circular economy challenge of closing material loops for mineral fibre products at end of life, identifying the technical and economic barriers to increased recycled content and recycling rates for each mineral fibre type, and establishing the environmental value of recycling pathways through avoided primary production impact assessment that justifies investment in collection and processing infrastructure.