Gypsum industry news

UK: Etex subsidiary Siniat has inaugurated a new line at its Bristol gypsum wallboard plant in the West of England. The plant will produce 98% of Siniat’s portfolio of wallboard products for the UK and Ireland markets. It will incorporate 45% recycled content in its products, with zero waste to landfill. The company said the upgrade to the plant cost €200m.

Belgium-based Etex says that the inauguration marks its single largest production investment in its history.

Italy: Eco Avant-Garde has launched a new product from its Eco Gypsum 64 gypsum wallboard recycling system. The system can now produce pulverised paper pellets as fuel for dryers at gypsum wallboard plants. Eco Avant-Garde highlighted the evident circular economic potential of the advance in a post to LinkedIn.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement has applied for a patent for a method of combining alkali metal hydroxide solutions with CO₂ to produce alkali metal salts that react with gypsum to produce calcium carbonate. Energy Weekly News has reported that the developers used gypsum from recycled gypsum wallboard to demonstrate the process.

Spain: Paper products specialist Alier has begun construction of a new €40m gypsum wallboard recycling plant in Zaragoza’s López Soriano Recycling Technology Park. The plant will recycle gypsum wallboards powered by a solar plant and biomass plant, generating net zero CO₂ emissions. The Heraldo de Aragón newspaper has reported that the plant will create 130 direct jobs and an estimated 390 indirect jobs.

UK: France-based Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum has launched the Gyproc SoundBloc Infinaé 100 gypsum wallboard in the UK. The board is the group’s first to feature 100% recycled gypsum. The producer said that construction firms supply used plasterboard from jobsites as raw materials, by means of British Gypsum’s collection service. The service also covers used adhesives and fillers.

Canada: CertainTeed Canada has received environmental assessment approval from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change for its Antrim Gypsum Project in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. It can now move to the project’s permitting phase and toward construction beginning in 2026.

The subsidiary of France-based Saint-Gobain intends to establish operations in Nova Scotia, where eastern North America’s only known major source of gypsum is located. The company will then strengthen its ability to supply its wallboard plants in eastern Canada and the US with locally mined gypsum.

CertainTeed Canada also recently completed construction on its Kootenay West Mine in British Columbia, which is now operational at full capacity with plans to develop a new railway to connect better to other units in western Canada. The company is also reopening its Amaranth Mine in Manitoba to serve central Canada. These efforts are in addition to a partnership with New West Gypsum to recycle and reuse wallboard in production in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, which has led to over 1Mt of wallboard being recycled and reused at the Vancouver plant alone.

France: Knauf France aims to use 35% recycled gypsum at its Fos-sur-Mer gypsum wallboard plant in Bouches-du-Rhône, with an interim target of 10% by 2025. The company inaugurated the 30Mm²/yr plant in March 2024. It is currently using its own offcuts in production, but has a dedicated silo in which to also store gypsum from other sources in future. The plant’s wallboard requires 15 – 20% less energy than is used at a ‘traditional’ Knauf plant through the use of a vertical mill and high-efficiency driers. Its water use is optimised by drawing it in batches.

Les Cahiers Techniques News has reported that general manager Christine Muscat said "The ramp-up is gradual and we are at a third of production capacity, which we plan to reach fully in the second half of 2025."

US: A study by Resource Recycling Systems found that 33% of construction and demolition materials (CDM) entering landfill in Summit County, Colorado, could be effectively diverted into CDM recycling. Gypsum wallboard was among the 11 materials included in the study. Local press has reported that county authorities aim to reuse or recycle 25% of CDM generated locally by 2028, and 50% by 2035. Landfill capacity will run out in 2078.

CDM constituted 30% of Summit County’s landfill intake during the study period.

Japan: Circular economy company TRE Holdings, a joint holding company of Takeei Corporation and River Holdings, raised its sales by 17% year-on-year to US$175m in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year. Its pre-tax profit was US$16.7m, up by 82% year-on-year. Gypsum wallboard recycling subsidiaries Green Arrows and Gypro reported a decline in sales and profit amid ‘sluggish’ order volumes.

For the full 2025 financial year, TRE Holdings expects to record sales of US$673m, up by 7%, and pre-tax profit of US$53.7m, up by 2%, in line with its previous outlook.

Japan: Chiyoda Ute plans to decrease the price of its recycled gypsum wallboard product in June 2024. It follows increased production and equipment improvements. The company launched the recycled product in 2023 and it said that it was the first product of its kind in the world to use 100% waste gypsum board collected from construction sites.