Embracing Circular Economy

The main raw material we use in our glass mineral wool products is external recycled glass (cullets) from sources such as windows, car windshields or bottles. As well as making our glass mineral wool more environmentally friendly, this extends the life of glass used in other industries.
Our XPS products include recycled polystyrene mostly originally from fish packaging.

We aim to be using a minimum of 80% recycled glass in our mineral wool products and 50% of recycled polystyrene in our XPS products by 2030.

In our glass mineral wool plants, we use production leftovers to make new glass mineral wool products used in the insulation industry, and raw materials for other industries such as ceiling tiles or bricks.
At our XPS plants, we reuse all XPS production scrap and cutoffs in the manufacturing of new XPS products. We also use XPS scrap for our XPS product packaging instead of wooden pallets.

Achievements:

• We have mechanical recycling equipment running in our glass mineral wool plants that allows us to save thousands of tons of waste being sent to landfill.
• In 2023, we achieved zero dry production leftovers to landfill in several glass mineral wool plants. In 2024 we have continued this path and we have increased the volume of material valorized by more than 10% compared to previous year.
• In our commitment to keep reducing waste to landfill, new recycling equipment are being developed in several URSA plants to be implemented in 2025.

We’re continuously reducing the virgin resources used in our packaging. Along with the rest of the Etex group, we aim to reduce plastic packaging by 20% and use recyclable plastic only.
In line with EU guidelines such as Packaging and Packaging Waste Reduction and our strong commitment to sustainability, we are increasing the amount of recycled plastic in our packaging – up to 30% in XPS products and 50% in glass mineral wool products.
URSA continues to reduce the thickness of our packaging whenever possible while maintaining high compression properties and mechanical resistance.
We’re reducing the use of ink for more sustainable foils.
Apart from reducing the use of plastic in our packaging, we are also decreasing wood consumption through our reusable pallet service that is being rolled out across Europe.

Achievements:

• In 2024, we have reduced the virgin plastic consumption in our foils by 13% compared to 2022
• Our glass mineral wool products manufactured in El Pla, Spain are packaged using primary foils with a minimum of 50% recycled plastic. The primary foils for XPS products include up to 30% recycled plastic.
• URSA’s reusable pallet service in Germany, France, Benelux, and Poland is helping customers partner with URSA in the circular economy and reduce their own CO2 footprint.
• In Eastern Europe, 40% of pallets are being recovered – just one milestone in this pioneering project for the insulation materials industry.