What is Recycled Content, and Why is it Important that I Purchase Products with a High Level of Recycled Content?
Recycled content is the part of a product that comes from previously wasted materials that are recycled. It’s essential to select products that have a high level of recycled content meaning that you are contributing to save primary and scarce resources — as in fact, 800 billion tons of natural resources are dedicated to the construction industry.
As much as 30% of all building materials delivered to a typical construction site can end up as waste[3]. More than 75% of all construction waste from wood, drywall, asphalt shingles, bricks, and clay tiles end up overflowing landfills [3]. Therefore, by using recycled content, you also help save spaces for non-reusable materials. According to the CDRA, recycling about 583 million tons of waste has saved 4,300 acres of landfill space.
Buying products where the recycled comes from upcycled, rather than downcycled waste materials, is also crucial. Upcycled material content improves the circularity of building materials that maintain their value and reduces resource consumption. Statistics show that using recycled instead of virgin materials reduces CO2 emissions by 40–70% [4].
How can Rockfon Products Help my Building become more Sustainable?
Rockfon is your sustainability partner. Apart from the low embodied environmental impacts, Rockfon products can be reused and recycled, and they have a high level of recycled content from upcycled waste materials. In our production, we upcycle waste materials from other industries, stopping them from being sent to landfill and creating higher value.
In fact, ROCKWOOL Group recycled roughly 163,000 tonnes of stone wool waste in 2020. And our acoustic solutions are made up of anywhere between 29% up to 64% of recycled, closed loop materials.
Rockfon acoustic solutions have multiple environmental benefits for a building as well. They have the best-in-class indoor climate labels and have excellent fire properties, thus, creating safe conditions for the building's users. They also contribute to a healthy indoor environment by safeguarding the air quality and hygiene, the acoustic environment, and aesthetic performance of all building types — from offices to medical buildings and learning environments.
Finally, Rockfon ceiling tiles provide excellent light reflection leading to energy savings. A study by COWI, on Rockfon ceiling panels, stated that a ceiling with a light reflection of 87% can result in energy savings of up to 22.75% per year. Natural light levels enhanced by light reflection is also proven to be able to boost work performance, enhance work conditions, and improve comfort.
How do Rockfon Products help me with my Sustainability Certification?
According to the United States Government, the number of LEED-certified projects in the country grew from 296 certifications in the year 2006, to 67,200 in the year 2018.
If you are looking to have a green building certification like LEED®, BREEAM®, DGNB®, WELL, or similar, we can help you achieve your goals by delivering products and solutions with documented benefits.
With annual green building materials market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.25% from 2021 to 2026 [5], we want to simplify the time-consuming documentation process for building certification. For this reason, you can find all the relevant information about how each product helps you in your certification in our published "Product Sustainability Declarations", which are available on our website. These reports help you make easy decisions around sustainability.
