Reduce
- Reduction of waste generation and burdens sits at the top of the waste hierarchy
For Rockwool, ‘reduce’ means cutting down the amount of waste produced by working closely with other industries to identify useful materials to divert from the waste stream, reducing the amount of virgin raw material needed in our production and reducing fresh water extraction.
A naturally renewable raw material
- A natural resource found in abundance around the world, diabase rock is the primary raw material used to manufacture our stone wool products
- The natural process by which diabase is formed is taking place right now all over the world
Volcanic activity means that nature creates new reserves of diabase rock every year – around 38,000 times more than the entire Rockwool Group extracts.
For more information on the high abundance and renewability of raw materials for stone wool production, view a recent independent article by clicking below.
Reducing our landfill burden
- Rockwool uses large quantities of by-products from other sectors, helping to solve a worldwide waste problem by minimising the amount of material sent to landfill
- From 2002 to 2008 the Rockwool Group’s waste to landfill decreased by 35%
- At present, these residual products help to form 20-30% of the cupola furnace charge
This benefits our industry partners, and crucially has a positive effect on the environment by not only helping to reduce waste but in addition saving energy in extracting and transporting raw materials to our plant.
Conserving water
- Conserving waterConserving waterWater is used within the production process
- Rockwool has installed equipment to collect rainwater and to treat and re-circulate water used within the process continually
This minimises the demands on water supply arising from the site.
