Recycling Technology to Save 227 Million Gallons of Water at CertainTeed Plant

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(Credit: CertainTeed)

Building products company CertainTeed has installed water recycling technology at its Kansas City, Kansas, insulation plant that will reduce the facility’s water consumption by 227 million gallons per year.

The $4.3 million project took seven years to implement and will help the plant capture and reuse the majority of water used on its K11 and K12 production lines. Previously the water would have been released into sewer drains, the company says.

The CertainTeed insulation manufacturing plant opened in 1951 and uses water to cool equipment and molten glass, which is made into fiberglass-based insulation material.

Being more responsible with water in production is increasingly becoming a focus across industries in making sustainability improvements. The water recycling effort is one piece of the sustainability improvements CertainTeed, which is a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, has put in place this year.

The company signed a 12-year power purchase agreement in March for 120 megawatts of renewable energy from a wind farm in McLean County, Illinois. In August Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed launched a program called Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities, which is intended to increase sustainable home construction in North America. CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain also announced plans in September to build a gypsum logistics facility that will be integrated into the remediation of a vacant superfund site along the St. Johns River in Florida.

Saint-Gobain recently released a sustainability strategy that includes reducing use of natural resources at its production sites in an effort to make a dent in construction industry emissions, which it says produces up to 40% of the world’s emissions. Saint-Gobain plans to cut most of its carbon by using what it calls light construction and says it will cut a third of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 17% of its Scope 3 emissions by 2030.

Saint-Gobain also was among a group of companies worth more than $5.8 trillion in revenue calling for the US government to make stronger efforts toward net zero and clean energy goals.

Environment + Energy Leader