Foamular Boosts Recycled Content For Sustainable Insulation

Foamular Extruded Polystyrene from Austech External Building Products is now guaranteed to contain a minimum of 20% recycled content in addition to its other green qualities.

The recycled content comes from post production waste. When making the board perfectly flat and trimming of excess product there can be large amounts of wasted produced which normally go straight to landfill.

Foamular now recycles that waste directly back into the product, limiting the waste sent to landfill, but also reducing the raw materials required to produce the product.

Recycled post production waste is better than general waste because it is guaranteed to be clean and free of contaminants. This helps guarantee Foamular's high R-values and overall product quality, so projects can be green without sacrificing on quality.

Foamular's Manufacturer, Owens Corning, have put into place a variety of measures to reduce their environmental impact, including; GHG emissions, water use, power use, waste to landfill, particle matter and volatile organic compounds. So far they have already met and exceeded most of their goals and are well on their way to achieving their ambitious 2013 targets.

Old Extruded polystyrene can also be easily recycled again and again with little effort. DWF airport reused 88% of the Extruded polystyrene on its 28,000+ square meter roof after 17 years of exposure to extreme conditions. Foamulars high R-values were maintained and its high compressive strength meant the boards had not disfigured at all. This was estimated to save the builder over $15,000 in landfill costs and $100,000 in labour costs.

Extruded polystyrene has an exceptionally long lifetime of 50+ years, so it doesn't need to be replaced often, reducing the need for landfill space or recycling of old material. Expanded polystyrene on the other hand only lasts around 7-12 years before it starts to degrade under regular conditions. Once expanded polystyrene degrades it lets in moisture, which causes a dramatic reduction in R-value and loss of physical form. This can cause severe problems to structures and reduces thermal efficiency.

Austech External Building Products also offer a range of Zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) Extruded Polystyrene for highly eco conscious projects. Polyboard Enviro 300 offers the high R-values and strength of traditional extruded polystyrene, but is made with a patented blowing agent that does not release any chemicals with Ozone Depletion Potential. Polyboard Enviro 300 can also be used towards Green Star accreditation and a range of other environmental credentials.