Gypsum industry news

Romania: Saint-Gobain Romania has inaugurated a new line at its Turda gypsum wallboard plant in Cluj County. Romania-Insider News has reported that the line cost €50m. The company had previously announced anticipated total investments €45m. All gypsum wallboard produced in the line will come with environmental product declarations (EPDs). Saint-Gobain Romania will employ an additional 100 people to work on the line, raising its total number of employees by 5% to 2000 people across 14 sites.

Saint-Gobain Romania CEO Ovidiu Pascutiu said "This new line, operating at optimal parameters, marks a significant step towards enhancing our production efficiency and expanding our product range to better serve our growing customer base."

Belgium: Etex says that it ‘considerably’ progressed its Road to Sustainability 2030 plan during 2023. That year, safety intensity increased by 7%, and Etex established a global diversity, equity and inclusion ambassador community of 110 volunteers across 26 countries. In Europe, the company achieved 70% Environmental Product Declaration coverage as a percentage of its turnover, up from 58% in 2022. Etex raised its total use of recycled materials to 7.6%, and achieved a 23% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 CO₂ compared to 2018 levels, in line with its 2030 target of 35%.

CEO Bernard Delvaux said “In the EU, more than 40% of energy consumed is used in buildings and more than 30% of energy-related greenhouse gasses emissions come from buildings. Next to new building activities, and according to current high energy standards, renovating old building stock should hence be a top priority. With our portfolio of building materials such as glass wool and extruded polystyrene insulation, gypsum wallboard, fibre cement boards and fire protection materials, Etex has the solutions to reach the ambitious targets. But in view of the huge challenge, a holistic and effective plan to boost renovation is needed, to finance and simplify the renovation process, in each of the EU countries.”

US: The Gypsum Association (GA) has released a revised and updated environmental product declaration (EPD) for 5/8” (1.5875cm) type X North American gypsum boards. Following the standards set in the association’s recently revised product category rules (PCR) for North American gypsum panel products, the EPD provides environmental performance information addressing energy consumption, water consumption, global warming, waste, air emissions and other metrics related to production.

“The Gypsum Association has an ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship. The development and release of this new ISO 21930 compliant, Type III, cradle-to-shipping gate EPD, demonstrates our member companies’ efforts to transparently report environmental impacts as a means of contributing to sustainable design and construction,” said Steve Meima, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Association, executive director of the GA.

Type X gypsum board is commonly installed in commercial, institutional and multifamily/mixed-use facilities. Where fire resistance ratings are required, type X gypsum board is typically specified. The GA has also produced an EPD for glass mat gypsum panel products that will be updated in 2021 under the new PCR.

Spain: Isolana has gained an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for its Isoplac laminated gypsum wallboard product. The EPD was registered in late January 2018, it will last five years and it was verified by Tecnalia R&I Certifcación. Isoplac A13 and A15 are laminated gypsum boards with double-sided cardboard and gypsum core, manufactured by continuous rolling process. Isoplac gypsum boards are installed in partitions, backings and interior ceilings forming systems that provide the acoustic insulation, thermal resistance and fire resistance required in each case.

US: CertainTeed has gained six additional Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), bringing its total number of gypsum wallboard EPDs to 12. The building materials producer started launching product specific EPDs in the drywall category in late 20115.

"CertainTeed is proud to have pioneered EPD verifications both within our drywall products and extending across CertainTeed insulation and ceilings categories. Since the beginning, we've delivered on our commitment to provide better product transparency so that our customers can make informed decisions on environmental sustainability implications at the initial stages of project development," said Dave Engelhardt, president of CertainTeed Gypsum.

CertainTeed Gypsum offers 12 product-specific Type III EPDs that include seven plants in four different product categories. The company says it is the only manufacturer to offer 'Cradle-to-Grave' EPD transparency that takes the entire development process into account. The EPDs from CertainTeed Gypsum are third-party verified by UL Environment and include information on global warming potential, embodied energy and other impacts that occur as a result of manufacturing.

The six new EPDs are available for four product groups including AirRenew, M2Tech, Easi-Lite and CertainTeed Type X. AirRenew is produced at the Moundsville plant in West Virginia and the other products are manufactured at the Montreal plant in Quebec, Canada.

US: The Gypsum Association (GA), which represents the North American manufacturers of gypsum wallboard, has released an industry-wide environmental product declaration (EPD) for glass mat gypsum panels. The EPD provides environmental performance information addressing energy consumption, water consumption, global warming, waste, air emissions and other metrics related to production.

"The development and release of this ISO 14025 conformance, Type III, cradle-to-shipping gate EPD, demonstrates that our member companies are committed to transparency as a means of improving the environment and increasing the sustainability of building products," said Stephen Meima, LEED Green Associate, executive director of the Gypsum Association.

The international standards organisation, ASTM, served as program operator for the EPD. The GA commissioned the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (ASMI) to perform the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that informs the EPD and to produce the EPD Project Report.

Glass mat gypsum panels are specialised performance products consisting of a no-combustible moisture resistant core encased in fibreglass facers on front and back surfaces and long edges. Also known as 'exterior gypsum sheathing,' this product provides extended weather protection, mould and moisture resistance, and fire resistance when specified as a component of a building's exterior envelope. Glass mat gypsum panels are compatible with a wide variety of exterior claddings including wood, masonry, metal, vinyl and stucco. Glass mat panels are increasingly used in the rapidly expanding multifamily residential sector.

UK: Saint-Gobain's British Gypsum is making it easier for specifiers and architects to identify environmental performance with the launch of seven new Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) that cover nine products.

As part of its aim to give environmental transparency and make it easier for specifiers to gather evidence for building certification schemes, such as BREEAM, LEED and SKA, British Gypsum has introduced additional EPD to its Thistle plaster range. These include declarations for Thistle BoardFinish, MultiFinish, BondingCoat, Browning, Universal OneCoat, DuraFinish, SprayFinish, ToughCoat and HardWall.

The EPDs were externally verified for the Thistle plaster products following a robust Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which calculated the environmental impact of each product throughout its lifecycle. The LCA considers a range of factors, including the effect of raw materials, manufacturing process, installation, performance in use and recycling capabilities.

"As our EPDs are based on clearly-defined EU-wide rules and regulations, our customers can be confident in the knowledge that they are receiving reliable indicators, allowing them to make an informed decision when planning or delivering a project," said Heidi Barnard, sustainability leader at British Gypsum. "We're currently the only UK plaster manufacturer to offer EPDs, but we recognise the importance of giving our customers greater transparency, especially in our industry, where sustainable practices are becoming more rigorous on an almost daily basis."