World Recycling Day: Isover Recycling, the world's leading industry for recycling glass wool waste

The building sector generates 46 million tonnes of waste per year in France, more than households (around 30 million tonnes) and five times less than public works (220 million tonnes). More than 90% of building waste comes from deconstruction and rehabilitation work and the rest from new construction (7%).

On the other hand, the context of recycling will also change significantly from January 1, 2023 with the entry into force of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). ISOVER Recycling perfectly meets these future requirements by ensuring the recovery of used glass wool from the construction industry.

For ISOVER, “waste” rhymes with “resources”

In 2018, ISOVER launched its collection and recycling service, ISOVER Recycling, the objective of which is to avoid landfilling glass wool and promote its recycling. ISOVER Recycling is the world's leading recycling channel for glass wool waste. This eco-design approach is one of the pillars of the brand's policy to reduce waste and preserve natural resources.

Developed with partnerships between the brand and various professionals in the recycling sector (collectors, unions) and cleaning companies, ISOVER Recycling is aimed as much at diffuse markets as at major renovation sites.

The approach responds in advance to the challenges of collecting glass wool waste, which will represent:

• more than 150.000 tons per year by 2030. A deposit that could increase further with the energy renovation plan for buildings.
• Today, this deposit amounts to about 100.000 tons.

ISOVER is committed to the circular economy

Prevention, sorting on site, recycling, reuse, reuse are all levers that contribute to the establishment of a circular economy for a more efficient use of resources.

In addition to ISOVER Recycling, ISOVER is working on a new technology for recycling glass wool at its plant in Chemillé (49). Subsidized by the European Commission and the Life program, this project, called I-LOOP, aims to achieve a significant reduction in construction and demolition waste sent to landfill by the end of 2023.

ISOVER's ambitions with the I-LOOP project are to demonstrate and validate the technical feasibility of recycling large quantities of glass wool waste for the manufacture of cullet, as well as the viability of a circular economy model involving various stakeholders along the deconstruction value chain.