USG BECOMES
FIRST
BUILDING
MATERIALS MANUFACTURER TO
PROVIDE GYPSUM AND CEILING PANEL RECYCLING
OPTIONS
Chicago,
August 8, 2006 – USG Corporation (NYSE: USG)
announced today that its gypsum recycling program partner,
Gypsum Recycling America, LLC (GRA), has begun collecting
new gypsum wallboard scrap, which will be recycled and
reused in USG’s wallboard manufacturing operations.
USG also announced that it will collect and recycle
customers’ used ceiling panels as part of the
company’s new USG Ceiling Panel Recycling Program.
“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, Environmental and
Manufacturing Services at USG Corporation.
First Wallboard Manufacturer to Partner with
GRA
USG
was the first wallboard manufacturer to contract with
GRA’s parent company, Gypsum Recycling International, to
purchase reprocessed gypsum for the production of new
wallboard. GRA’s
first facility, located in
Cambridge
,
Mass.
, started collecting new-construction wallboard scrap in
March. This
fall,
the scrap will be processed by a patented new mobile
recycling machine. The
machine then converts the material into a gypsum powder
that USG’s plant in
Charlestown
,
Mass.
, the state’s only wallboard manufacturer, will reuse in
making new wallboard.
GRA’s
Cambridge recycling facility can process a permitted capacity of
60,000 tons of recycled gypsum a year.
As GRA expands in the Northeast, USG’s plants in Stony Point,
N.Y., and
Baltimore,
Md., will also purchase the reprocessed gypsum.
Massachusetts
was chosen as GRA’s first site because of the state’s
strong interest in gypsum recycling.
USG
has a long history of innovation and environmental
excellence in its gypsum panel products.
Its SHEETROCK®
brand gypsum wallboard has been made using 100-percent
recycled paper for more than 35 years and the company is
the
U.S.
’s largest user of recaptured or synthetic gypsum, a
byproduct of coal-fired utility plants’ pollution
control processes.
Ceiling
Panel Recycling Program Reflects Leadership
USG
customers can now recycle pre-approved ceiling panels made
by USG or other manufacturers and, once customers have a
full truckload, USG will pay the way. “Recycling
of ceiling panels won’t happen if it adds to the time
and cost of a renovation.
That’s why we’ve designed our program to be
fast, easy and economical,” said J. Mark Kemerling,
USG’s product marketing manager, Ceiling Panels.
“In the same time it takes to haul small loads of
panels to a Dumpster, workers can stack panels as they are
removed, avoid landfill disposal costs and support a
project’s ability to earn U.S. Green Building Council
LEED credits.”
USG’s
Ceiling Panel 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. USG will
reuse the recycled panels to manufacture new ceiling
products. 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.
But
recycling and reusing materials is just one component that
supports sustainable building design.
Indoor air quality is equally important.
USG’s ceiling panel product line includes panels
that are the highest-performing in the industry, meeting
some of the strictest standards for indoor air quality.
Customers
interested in recycling ceiling panels should contact
their local sales representative.
New England-area businesses interested in recycling
new gypsum wallboard scrap should contact USG’s Sandy
Mulkern,
smulkern@usg.com, manager, New Business
Development, Gypsum Recycling; or Jack Walsh,
jw@gypsumrecycling.us, GRA general manager.
USG
Corporation is a Fortune
500 company with subsidiaries that are market leaders in
their key product groups: gypsum
wallboard, joint compound and related gypsum products;
cement board; gypsum fiber panels; ceiling panels and
grid; and building products distribution. For additional
information, visit the USG Web site at www.usg.com.
Gypsum
Recycling America LLC is privately owned by Gypsum
Recycling International A/S, a Danish firm that is the
world leader in Gypsum Recycling Systems.
Established in 2001, the company operates in
Denmark
,
Sweden
,
Norway
,
Holland
, the
United Kingdom
,
Ireland
and now the
U.S.A.
For more
information about Gypsum Recycling International, visit www.gypsumrecycling.biz
