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Wastemanagement
Waste management and
and polyurethane
polyurethane insulation
Today's solution
insulation forcontext
in the tomorrow's needs efficiency
of resource
Waste management
and polyurethane
insulation
in the context of
resource efficiency Executive summary
PU (PUR/PIR) is the premium insulation material used
in a wide range of building and technical applications.
Thanks to its low thermal conductivity and high
durability, it may save more than 100 times the energy
needed for its production during its 50 years lifetime,
or more, in buildings. When PU reaches its end of life
after many decades in use, it enters the waste stream
together with other construction products. Together
with a large quantity of excavation waste, construction
and demolition waste accounts for about 30 % of all
waste generated in the European Union. On the other
hand, a life cycle assessment will show that construction
and demolition waste only causes about 2 % of the
overall environmental burdens of a building.

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regulators tendR toPpropose recycling targets for
IN INSULATION

EXCELLENCE IN INSULATION construction and demolition waste. Such a simple

approach does not take account of the complexity of recycling, recovery and high efficiency waste-
of the issue, as construction products are to-energy options.
intermediate products and resource efficiency
Given long-term trends in raw material prices
goals should be set at the building level based on
and landfill costs, more recycling and recovery
life cycle performance.
options will become economically viable and
Moreover, such requirements may lead to green- their use is therefore likely to increase in the
washing as recycling technologies may exist and foreseeable future. Because of the complex nature
are actively communicated, although their use of demolition waste, these future recovery options
remains limited in practice due to complex logistics need to be robust, cost-effective and able to treat
and poor economies of scale. mixed wastes streams.

This leaflet puts recycling in the context of European Policy has an equally important role to play in
legislation and life cycle assessment (LCA). It shows diverting waste from landfill. As a prerequisite,
that the viability of end-of-life options depends the segregation of demolition waste into organic
on various factors such as transport distances, and inorganic fractions should become a legal
burdens from recycling processes and raw material requirement. More fractions could be envisaged.
costs. This means that one-size-fits-all solutions In any case, sufficient waste-to-energy capacity
do usually not exist. The paper then looks at the should be provided to ensure that the energy
various end-of-life options for PU waste with their content of organic waste is recovered when
pros and cons. It concludes that the optimum recycling or product recovery is not an option.
waste management of PU consists of a good mix
What is polyurethane? Applications
PU is used in a wide variety of applications to
Polyurethane (PU) and its create consumer and industrial products that
applications play a crucial role in making people’s lives more
convenient, comfortable and environmentally
Raw materials friendly. The material is widely used in the food cold
Polyurethanes are polymers that are made by chain, in upholstered furniture and mattresses,
reacting polyisocyanates (mostly MDI for insulation shoes, cars, medical devices and, last but not
foams) with a range of polyols. While most of the least, for the thermal insulation of buildings and
ingredients are hydrocarbon or mineral oil based, technical equipment1.
also plant-based content can be used. In particular,
some polyols can contain up to 60 % of plant- In all these applications, polyurethanes contribute
based content coming from renewable sources. to reducing resource use by providing light weight
Although this should be seen as a step forward, and durable solutions. When used as coatings, they
conflicts with food production must be avoided ensure longevity of the structural elements such
and impacts on LCA indicators taken into account. as concrete and metals. As adhesives, PU plays an
important role in the mechanical recycling of a
Polyols for use in PU products can also be made from variety of materials such wood and rubber wastes.
recycled PET bottles. Another new and promising
technology utilizes carbon dioxide as an additional
raw material for the synthesis process of polyols.
The carbon dioxide is a waste product provided
from a power plant which would otherwise be
emitted in the atmosphere. Furthermore, this
process saves a part of the oil and energy that are
needed in the conventional production of polyols.

[1] www.polyurethanes.org
Europe PU Market by applications 2011 – 3 700  kto (Volumes in kto)
Polyurethane insulation
Thermal insulation has a crucial role to play in  Insulation boards and block foam
achieving nearly zero energy demand levels for  Sandwich panels
Europe’s new buildings and drastically reducing  Spray insulation
energy demand in the existing building stock.  Cavity-injected insulation
Thanks to its premium insulation performance and  Structural insulated panels
durability, PU (PUR/PIR) is the material of choice to  Pipe-in-pipe insulation
reach these targets. PU drastically reduces energy  Insulation of industrial installations and pipes
resource use as it is capable of achieving very high
insulation levels with minimal thickness. It also
optimises the overall building material resource
use by minimising the impact on ancillary elements
such as the depth of eaves, joists, rafters or studs,
lengths of fixings and the size and strength of overall
structure. It also maximises the available space, [2] Commission Communication: Strategy for the sustainable
competitiveness of the construction sector and its Enterprises,
making the most of building land and living space. COM(2012) 433 final
[3] Commission Communication: Roadmap to a Resource Efficient
Thanks to its long lifetime i.e. high durability, Europe, COM(2011) 571 final

resource use through repair and replacement are [4] See website of DG Environment: http://ec.europa.eu/
environment/waste/construction_demolition.htm
minimised. PU insulation is commonly used in a
[5] Caleb calculation based on UK Construction Resources & Waste
number of different applications: Platform data
Societal challenges On the other hand, buildings are part of our heritage
and living space. They should be attractive and
and EU legislation comfortable. With people spending about 90 % of
their life in buildings, healthy indoor environments
Construction and waste must be guaranteed.
generation
Furthermore, with the move towards nearly zero
The construction sector plays an important role in the energy buildings, the weight of construction
European economy. It generates almost 10 % of GDP products in the overall environmental balance of
and provides 20 million jobs, mainly in micro and small buildings is changing. Thicker insulation, triple
enterprises2. Buildings account for 42 % of our final glazing, ventilation systems, photovoltaic or
energy consumption, about 35 % of our greenhouse solar thermal systems will all increase resource
gas emissions and (including civil engineering) more use in the construction phase and, at the end
than 50 % of all extracted materials3. of their life, enter waste streams. This must be
counterbalanced with the use phase, during which
Construction and demolition waste is one of the
these products will help to drastically reduce the
heaviest and most voluminous waste streams
resource consumption of the building and hence
generated in the EU. It accounts for approximately
the waste streams caused by energy generation.
25-30 % of all waste generated in the EU4. The
share of construction and demolition waste The European Union adopted a number of laws
stemming from buildings will be lower once to tackle this complex issue. A global strategy on
waste from civil engineering works and excavated the resource efficiency of buildings and waste
soil is deducted. In particular excavation waste management is still missing.
streams account for almost 50 % of all construction
and demolition waste5. Nevertheless, even by
deducting these waste types, the quantity of end-
of-life construction products remains significant.
 Construction products
regulation
This regulation7 introduced a new basic requirement

Waste framework directive for construction works n° 7 “Sustainable use of

natural resources”. According to this requirement,
The Waste framework directive adopted in 2008
6
construction works must be designed, built and
introduces in article 4 a so-called waste hierarchy demolished in such a way that the use of natural
as a priority order: resources is sustainable, amongst others by ensuring

 prevention; “reuse or recyclability of the construction works, their

materials and parts after demolition”.
 preparing for re-use;
 recycling; It is still unclear how this requirement will be
 other recovery, e.g. energy recovery; and implemented at national level and how compliance
 disposal. can be measured. Many stakeholders, including
construction products manufacturers see the
Article 4 also invites Member States to “take
standards developed by CEN/TC350 as the most
measures to encourage the options that deliver the
appropriate tool.
best overall environmental outcome”. This includes
the possibility to allow that certain waste streams
depart “from the hierarchy where this is justified Resource efficiency initiatives
by life-cycle thinking on the overall impacts of the
A number of Commission documents including the
generation and management of such waste”. As
“Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe” and the
will be explained below, the flexibility provided for
“Strategy for the sustainable competitiveness of the
by this article is of relevance to construction and
construction sector and its enterprises” address the
demolition waste management decisions.
management of construction and demolition waste
Article 11 stipulates that, by 2020, at least 70 % as part of increased overall resource efficiency.
by weight of non-hazardous construction and
demolition waste should be re-used, recycled or [6] Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 2008 on waste and
recovered. Whilst some countries already fulfil this repealing certain Directives
[7] Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of 9 March 2011 laying down
requirement today, others will find it difficult to put
harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products
the infrastructure in place before the target date. and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC
 Waste in the context
of LCA
Holistic approach on building
performance according to TC350
The standards developed by this CEN Technical Reduced energy demand during the use

committee put waste management and resource phase versus higher material use and/or waste
efficiency in the context of building sustainability. streams;
This concept combines environmental, economic  Resource consumption and waste production
and social aspects and enables specifiers to of a product versus its longevity (need for
minimize resource use over the building life cycle. replacement during the building life cycle);

The calculation of environmental burdens takes  Different material choices and the effects on
account of impacts from construction products the building design and performance;
communicated through environmental product  Impact of construction and demolition waste
declarations, and of the building design and use on the overall life cycle performance (burdens
pattern. Based on this, designers can calculate from waste and credits through recovery or
the environmental performance of the building recycling).
covering all life cycle phases and compare different
options including the following:

Total environmental impacts of the building stock in the EU-25 according to Total environmental impacts of the building stock in the EU-25 according to
life cycle phases (existing buildings) life cycle phases (new buildings)
When applying such a life cycle approach, the However, even if the environmental burden from
burdens stemming from end-of-life are of minor construction and demolition waste seems small per
importance. According to the IMPRO study of the building, it becomes relevant when extrapolated
Joint Research Centre , the end-of-life impact is
8
to the whole EU building stock. This is the reason
small for both new and renovated buildings (-1.7 why construction product manufacturers need
to 3.2 % of the environmental impacts for new to identify innovative solutions for the waste
build). The impact should be somewhat higher in management of their products.
nearly zero energy buildings.

A closer look at PU and other insulation products

shows that practically all these materials provide
a high degree of resource efficiency, as they save
considerably more resources than are required
for their production and end-of-life treatment. In [8] Françoise Nemry, Andreas Uihlein (Joint Research Centre):
fact, many studies show that, for a given end-use Environmental Improvement Potentials of Residential Buildings
(IMPRO-Building, 2008)
application, the overall environmental balance of
[9] PU Europe Factsheet n°15: Life Cycle Environmental and Economic
the various insulation products is fairly similar9. analysis of Polyurethane Insulation in Low Energy Buildings (2010)
Factors determining the viability Economic aspects
of waste recovery options  Transport distances between demolition site
and end-of-life treatment facilities
Strategies to increase resource efficiency must
 Costs of waste segregation
necessarily look at waste management. A closer
analysis will show that even for one and the same  Cost of end-of-life options compared to raw
construction product, a number of external factors material prices
affect the viability of waste treatment options.  Economies of scale: quantity of waste (in total
They include the following aspects: and per demolition site)

Environmental aspects  Stability of waste streams

 Transport distances between demolition site The above examples demonstrate the complexity
and end-of-life treatment facilities of the challenge. A case-by-case assessment will be
 Environmental impact of recycling processes required to find the solution leading to the lowest
compared to the extraction and use of virgin societal burden from construction and demolition
materials waste.

Technical aspects Generally, experience shows that waste is best

diverted from landfill when a country combines
Contamination
 by other substances or
different end-of-life strategies ranging from
materials
recycling to waste-to-energy (see graph below).

Municipal waste treatment in 2010 EU 27 (Graph by CEWEP, Source: EUROSTAT 2010)

Current PU waste for 30 to 75 years or more. This very long life cycle
may have an impact on end-of-life options, as
options  The product is likely to be contaminated by
PU insulation and waste others in its use phase (bitumen, adhesives,
streams rust, render, etc.) and

 Substances used in the past are no longer

PU insulation consists of 97 
% insulating gas
admitted today.
captured in the closed cells of the foam and is
therefore extremely light-weight. Its share in the The following chapters will introduce different
total non-mineral construction and demolition end-of-life options for PU insulation following the
waste should be around 0.3 % (figure for Germany) “waste hierarchy” and highlight their pros and
and around 0.05 % in the total construction and cons, relevance and potential future.
demolition waste (estimates for France and the
UK).10 Its lifetime is closely linked to that of buildings
[10] Consultic GmbH for PU Europe: Study on rigid PUR/PIR foam
and building renovation cycles. Depending on the
waste qualification and quantification at construction and demolition
application, PU insulation will typically stay in place sites in 2007 and forecast to 2012/2020 (2008)
Prevention Re-use
Driven by high raw material prices, PU insulation PU insulation is an extremely durable product,
manufacturers work actively on measures to lower which is inert, does not rot and resists moisture
wastage levels at production. uptake. In most cases, PU boards are mechanically
fixed (pitched roofs, steel deck roofs), so the boards
Tackling construction/installation waste is more
can be easily recovered and separated from other
complex. On a national level, some PU Europe
construction material. In particular insulation
members develop generic guidance and conduct
boards and sandwich panels can therefore be
case studies to achieve better design and site
re-used, although usually in less demanding
practices for installation waste minimisation of
applications. It has been demonstrated that PU
insulation products.
insulated roofs can be renovated without replacing
The trend towards prefabricated insulated the insulation layer even if moisture could
composite building elements is another way to penetrate the roof due to leakage in the water
reduce construction waste. The elements are proofing layer. The thermal performance of the
made to measure in the factory and installation is roof may be improved by an additional insulation
therefore quick and almost waste free. layer11. It is estimated that between 5 and 10 % of
PU construction and demolition waste is re-used12.

[11] Rainer Spilker, Aachener Institut für Bauschadensforschung

und angewandte Bauphysik gGmbH: Flachdach-sanierung über
durchfeuchteter Dämmschicht (2003), http://www.baufachinformation.
de/artikel.jsp?v=209700
[12] See footnote 9
 © Image: Puren GmbH
Recycling options
Recycling steel from sandwich panels
Steel is a valuable resource which can be recycled
an unlimited number of times. As recycling comes
Transforming PU waste into new products
with a cost, the economic viability largely depends
on steel prices. These fluctuate a lot which means PU foam waste from production and construction
the economics may change significantly over time. can be ground and reprocessed into high density
Three options are currently applied: boards and profiles to replace wood and wood
chipboards in construction. The recycled material
 The steel facings from the sandwich panels are
is non-rotting, mould- and mildew-resistant.
stripped and sent to recycling. This process is
Thanks to its low thermal conductivity, light
however time consuming.
weight and outstanding moisture and mechanical
The steel can by recovered through a
 resistance levels, it is used as construction element
conventional shredder. for façades, base material for window frames,
partitions or doors, bathroom and nautical
The end-of-life panels can be processed

furniture and kitchen counter tops. It can be found
through a fridge recycling plant when old
in high speed trains, lorries and caravans.
foams containing ozone depleting substances
can be expected, and provided no other Production waste is also transformed into other
undesired substances are present. PU-based insulation products, in particular for
 Chemical recycling
The term chemical recycling describes the
thermal and acoustic floor insulation. To this chemical conversion of polyurethanes to produce
end, the waste foam is ground into granules polyols for further second life applications. Three
and treated with additives and cellulose. It technologies have been developed: hydrolysis,
can then be evenly distributed on the floor. aminolysis and glycolysis. Today, a small number
of glycolysis plants are operating in Europe.
Both applications can be economically and
They process uncontaminated waste of a known
environmentally viable and are therefore proven
composition, which is mainly production waste.
options today.
According to the current state-of-the-art, about

Production and construction waste: 30 % of the polyols used in rigid PU foam can come

Transforming PU waste into packaging from glycolysis without affecting product quality.

material
No LCA is available to quantify the environmental
PU foam waste can be transformed into packaging benefits and burdens of these technologies. The
material for PU insulation products. main stumbling stone to a wider use include the
removal of the facings, logistics and costs. Still,
Other products made of waste PU foam
recent press announcements indicate that new
A number of other recycling options are currently glycolysis plants should be built in the near future.
being explored in pilot projects including the
production of playground matting, reed bed
buoyancy medium, hydroponic mats and oil/liquid
absorption uses.
Recovery (waste-to-energy) lower primary energy content of the PU product
compared to landfill. On the other hand, the global
If PU insulation waste cannot be re-used, recycled,
warming potential increases, as CO2 is produced in
or transformed into other products, the preferred
the incineration process.
option is energy recovery. PU contains a significant
amount of energy, which makes it a very efficient Landfill
feedstock for municipal incinerators that generate
PU insulation waste, which is free of ozone
electricity and, increasingly, heat for use in
depleting substances, is not classified as hazardous
buildings and industrial processes.
waste. However, end-of-life PU insulation is too
Thanks to new combustion techniques and post valuable to be land-filled. PU Europe and its
grate ash treatment this solution is also suited for members encourage national governments to
contaminated and ODS containing waste from mandate at least the segregation of demolition
building demolition. waste into mineral and organic fractions and
provide sufficient waste-to-energy capacity to
Some countries such as, Sweden and Switzerland,
deal with non-recyclable organic waste. This is a
Denmark and Germany, transform practically all
prerequisite to diverting PU and other organic
PU waste, which cannot be recycled or recovered
demolition wastes from landfill.
otherwise, into energy. On average, it can be
estimated that about half of the PU insulation On the other hand, the industry is aware of its own
waste is treated in this way in Europe. responsibility. Trials are underway to introduce
take-back schemes for construction waste with
From an LCA point of view, this option leads
a view to diverting it from landfill and treat it
to credits in the energy balance, as the waste
according to the other end-of-life options.
PU replaces fossil fuels. This is reflected in the
Outlook Future waste options

Future use of current waste The PU industry is pro-actively exploring further

options options to divert end-of-life foam from landfill.

They include the following:
Many end-of-life options exist for PU insulation
waste. Recycling and recovery solutions have Production and construction waste: Feeding
been developed and have proven their technical PU dust back into production process
feasibility. Three principle obstacles to a wider PU dust could be fed back into the process stream
deployment have been identified: logistics, to produce new PU insulation boards/panels.
economics and contamination by other building
Construction waste: PU waste as party wall fill
materials.
Shredded PU waste can be used to guarantee
Raw material prices have been steadily increasing
high levels of thermal and acoustic insulation in
over the past years and are likely to continue this
party walls separating terraced houses. Trials are
development. The cost for landfill is also going
underway and first technical approvals have been
up. This will contribute to the economic viability
obtained or are in preparation.
of recycling and recovery options such as steel
recycling and chemical recycling. Their relevance Add PU foam waste to light concrete &
should therefore increase in a foreseeable future. cement screeds
PU foam waste can be used as an additive for
With the increasing use of PU insulation, the
lightweight concrete. The product is versatile and
stability and volume of PU waste streams will
can be prepared by hand, in a cement mixer or in
increase over the years. This should contribute to
a concreting plant. It has good thermal insulation
overcoming a part of logistics-related problems.
qualities, fire resistance and durability. This is
Further research is necessary to deal with a viable solution for PU production waste and
contaminated PU waste. construction waste from major building sites.
 Waste from all life cycle stages: Feedstock
recycling of organic streams
A new technology has been brought to industrial
scale. It produces pure gas through synthesis and
thermal fission from biomass and other organic
materials such as plastics without emitting toxic
Add PU foam waste to render for façades organic pollutants such as dioxins and furans
and flue gases. The resulting gas is a mixture of
Ground PU waste can be added to ready-mixed
methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide and can
plaster for manual or spray plastering for new
be used as both a fully-fledged substitute for fossil
build and renovation. The PU particles significantly
fuels in industrial processes as well as a production
increase the thermal resistance of the wall while
feed material, for example in the manufacture of
maintaining a high degree of vapour permeability.
methanol.
Waste from all life cycle stages: Co-combustion
in cement kilns

PU waste can be used as a fuel substitute in The PU industry will continue its efforts
cement production. Technical feasibility has been to develop solutions that minimise
proven. The main issues today include the cost of environmental burdens from end-of-
collection, sorting, pre-treatment and transport life products while ensuring economic
and the unpredictability of waste quantities. Pilot viability. However, whatever solutions
projects are underway. the future will bring, recycling for
the sake of meeting a quota will not
necessarily benefit the environment.
Decisions will have to be taken on the
basis of life cycle analyses and will be
case-specific.

For more details on polyurethane insulation and waste management, see

www.excellence-in-insulation.eu

Pu euRoPe
EXCELLENCE IN INSULATION
Pu euRoPe
EXCELLENCE IN INSULATION
Responsible Editor
PU Europe
Address
Avenue E. Van Nieuwenhuyse 6
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© 2013, PU Europe.
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