U.S. Gypsum Corporation announced last week that its gypsum recycling program partner, Gypsum Recycling America, LLC, has begun collecting new gypsum wallboard scrap, which will be recycled and reused in the company’s wallboard manufacturing operations. USG also announced that it will collect and recycle customers’ used ceiling panels.
Headquartered in Chicago, USG is a member of the National Council of the Housing Industry — The Supplier 100 of NAHB.
“With these two programs, we’re helping to divert thousands of tons of waste from landfills and reusing it for wallboard and ceiling panel production, while also helping our customers and others lower their waste disposal fees,” said David Wonnell, director of USG’s Environmental and Manufacturing Services.
The first recycling facility opened in Cambridge, Mass. in March and is now collecting new-construction wallboard scrap. The scrap will be processed by a patented new mobile recycling machine and converted into gypsum powder that will be used in making new wallboard at a GSE plant in Charlestown, Mass.
The Cambridge facility can process 60,000 tons of gypsum a year. As the program expands in the Northeast, USG’s plants in Stony Point, N.Y. and Baltimore will also purchase the reprocessed gypsum. Massachusetts was chosen as the first site because of the state’s strong interest in gypsum recycling.
USG’s SHEETROCK® gypsum wallboard has been made using 100% recyled paper for more than 35 years and the company is the largest user in the country of recaptured or synthetic gypsum, a byproduct of coal-fired utility plants’ pollution control processes.
USG customers can now recycle pre-approved ceiling panels made by USG or other manufacturers and, once they have a full truckload, USG will pay the way.
The recycling program accepts panels from the continental U.S. and areas of Canada, and is as simple as stacking, wrapping and calling for a ride, the manufacturer says.
The company already recycles and reuses ceiling panels that are damaged during manufacturing. Many of USG’s ceiling panels also use recycled paper and contain mineral wool made of slag, a byproduct of steel production.
Customers interested in recycling ceiling panels should contact their local sales representative.
Businesses in New England interested in recycling new gypsum wallboard scrap should e-mail Sandy Mulkern or Jack Walsh at USG snd Gypsum Recycling America, respectively.
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