Saint-Gobain acknowledges the fact that the building industry is one of the UK’s largest producers of waste, sending between 90 and 110 million tonnes to landfill every year. More than half of UK landfill is construction waste. About a third of this is unused building material that could be reused, up to half is packaging, and much of the remainder can be recycled.
Currently, UK building firms spend around five per cent of their profit on waste removal. It makes both economic and environmental sense to have robust waste management practices in place that recycle, reuse and remove waste in all aspects of the manufacturing and construction processes.
We employ a range of waste management policies that outline fundamental practices and we continue to work in partnership with organisations, suppliers and clients to find sources for materials that are currently going to landfill.
Minimising waste and improving recycling
Group companies produce three types of waste:
- Scrap - For several businesses, production scrap can be returned into the manufacturing cycle fairly easily, since glass and cast iron are infinitely recyclable materials.
- Non-hazardous - commercial non-hazardous waste is increasingly recycled or reused. Used sand from foundries serves in cement kilns, slag from blast furnaces or cupola furnaces is used as public works filler material, etc.
- Hazardous - The main types of hazardous waste produced are as follows: Dust, resulting from the melting of glass, made up of sulphates and possibly containing heavy metals, is collected at the bottom of regenerators or in the furnace flues, as well as in fume filters. Waste from the demolition of furnaces, composed principally of used refractories. When such waste is not recyclable, it is disposed of by specialized professionals that also handle paints, solvents or used motor oils.
Our 5 Key principles are:
- Eliminate - Avoid producing waste in the first place
- Reduce - Minimise the amount of waste produced
- Re-use - Use items as much as possible
- Recycle - Recycle what you can only after it has been re-used
- Dispose - Dispose of what is left in a responsible way
Best Practice: Saint-Gobain Glass
The team developed a practical, low-cost way of ensuring they could get useable cullet back to Eggborough without placing unreasonable demands on their customers. The results of the initiative speak for themselves. With around 3,000 bags of cullet returned each month,Saint-Gobain Glass UK has not only cut its energy usage, but also reduced consumption of raw materials by approx 22%. The company’s customers have also benefited, with a reduction in their landfill costs and Saint-Gobain Glass paying them for any returned cullet.
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