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The recycling of mineral wools
How s'organizee the mineral wool industry?
The collection of mineral wools is carried out directly on site. The current approaches to separate collection and recycling are supported by the sector's industrialists: referencing collectors, defining quality specifications, setting up specific recycling processes in production plants.
The recycling of mineral wools is currently limited to clean products, essentially installation scraps, and its collection logistics present specific constraints. Glass wool and mineral wool present similar problems linked to their low density. But they are distinct products which cannot follow the same recycling channels, which must not be mixed and must be collected separately.Removal training is important to learn how to recognize wools that are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other.
For glass wool recycling, two sites (one in France and one in Belgium) have the capacity to accept post-consumer waste. Concerning rock wool, one site in France can recycle post-consumer rock wool waste.
How to Valobat intervene?
To support the development of the sector, Valobat :
- Develops collection by fully integrating mineral wools into the various collection systems, in addition to the existing networks.
- Ensures the supply of industrial recycling tools that have been developed in recent years and which have been the subject of major investments.
- Undertakes research and development in order to be able to recover a greater quantity of mineral wools by improving the preliminary stages of sorting and preparation of the material.