Superglass: Environmental Statement

As part of Superglass’ business philosophy it is recognised that we have a responsibility toward protecting the environment by minimising the impact upon it from our activities.

As such Superglass Insulation works with various statutory, commercial and trade association bodies such as SEPA, Minesco and EURISOL respectively. This work contributed greatly to the development of our polices and practices that are intended to improve our environmental performance and contribute to our objective of sustainable development.

Superglass operates in compliance with the Pollution Prevention & Control (PPC) legislation and has been granted certification by SEPA. Environmental considerations are pre-eminent in production processes with particular respect to –

	1	Maximum use of reclaimed glass
	2	Reduction in primary energy requirements
	3	Waste heat recovery
	4	Aqueous waste re-cycling
	5	Solid waste re-cycling
	6	Reduction of ‘Greenhouse’ gases and airborne pollutants

Superglass operates both wet and dry electrostatic precipitators to cleanse emissions to atmosphere and is constantly pursuing improvement in all areas of environmental sensitivity.

Under PPC authorisation, Superglass is obliged to review its resource utilisation, energy consumption and waste production with the findings being reported in the public register. Where new technology and techniques become available, Superglass actively evaluates these and incorporates them when possible.

Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) & Global Warming Potential (GWP)

BRE Ecohome 2006 Guidance publication (page 42) states that a credit of 1 (one) is available where the insulant specified for the various elements of a dwelling has a ODP of zero and a GWP of less than five.

The guidance also states (page 43, note 3) that glass fibre is an insulant that is recognised as ‘inherently having a zero ODP and GWP’.

Life Cycle

When considering the life cycle of mineral wool products in general and Superglass products in particular, various parameters analysed include:

1
The amount of recycled material used resulting in less landfill use

2
Aqueous waste recycled to avoid disposal to sewer

3
Fibre waste recycled to avoid disposal to landfill

4
Advances in our melting process resulting in lower primary energy use

5
Products being compress packaged resulting in reduced transport costs and packaging volumes

6
The certainty they will save more energy compared to that consumed in their production.

Research has shown that these considerations greatly reduce the ‘Embodied Energy’ or ‘Cradle to Grave Energy Use’ of mineral wool insulation products making them one of the most environmentally friendly insulation material available.

At Superglass we have formulated a glass fibre that consumes over 80% of recycled material in the form of reclaimed glass in order to prevent the depletion on sensitive natural resources. It is our belief that we operate at a higher recycling level than any other UK mineral wool producer.

This recycling policy, in conjunction with our products’ overall life cycle allow architects, specifiers and builders to choose Superglass insulation products in the knowledge that they will be compatible with sustainable building design i.e. building for longevity while conserving the environment.

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