Saint-Gobain Installs Recycling Technology at its Nashville, Arkansas Gypsum Plant, Reducing Landfill Waste by 65,000 Tons per Year

NASHVILLE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saint-Gobain, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed LLC, has installed recycling technology at its gypsum wallboard plant in Nashville, Arkansas, which will allow the plant to recycle and reuse 65,000 tons of materials per year that otherwise would have been sent to a landfill.

The project represents a $1.3 Million investment from CertainTeed and comes as Saint-Gobain continues to roll out its new global Grow and Impact strategy, which includes reducing waste and increasing the circularity of raw materials at its manufacturing sites.

Gypsum wallboard is made from a gypsum slurry that is poured and dries between two sheets of paper. Some scrap materials, consisting of gypsum and paper, are normally created every time a production line is started up or shut down, or when production equipment is changed to manufacture different sizes of wallboard.

The new recycling technology in Nashville works by grinding the waste gypsum and waste paper down into fine particles, allowing the plant to capture and internally recycle the materials, which are sorted and then reintroduced to the production process at the plant. Today, each wallboard produced at CertainTeed’s Nashville facility includes some recycled content made available by this new process, and the company plans to increase the amount of recycled materials in its gypsum wallboard in the coming years.

“In Nashville and at our manufacturing sites around the world, we remain laser-focused on reducing waste, reducing our consumption of natural resources, and increasing recycling and circularity throughout our value chain,” said Jay Bachmann, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Gypsum. “We will continue to look for ways to minimize our environmental footprint while maximizing our company’s positive impact for our customers and the communities where we do business.”

CertainTeed’s Nashville plant, and its nearby mine, sit on 3,500 acres of land in scenic southwest Arkansas. Today the plant and the mine employ nearly 200 people and are currently hiring mechanical engineers, process engineers, reliability engineers and for several roles in production. A complete listing of job openings at all Saint-Gobain locations, including the CertainTeed site in Nashville, can be found on the company’s careers website.

The recycling technology installed in Nashville follows several other recent actions taken by the company to solidify its commitment towards sustainability:

• In April, Saint-Gobain announced its electrochromic glass subsidiary SageGlass had launched a recycling partnership that will save 1,000 tons of glass pear year from landfill for the next five years.
• In March, Saint-Gobain North America announced it would install heat recovery technology at its CertainTeed gypsum manufacturing site in Vancouver, British Columbia, which will reduce the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions by 10% and improve its energy efficiency.
• Also in March, Saint-Gobain announced the 2021 results of its virtual Power Purchase Agreement with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm, and additional renewables contracting, had reduced the company’s CO2 emissions from electricity usage in the United States and Canada by approximately 33%.
• In February, the company invested $32 Million to upgrade equipment at its insulation plant in Chowchilla, California, reducing the facility’s carbon footprint by more than 4,000 metric tons per year.
• In January, Saint-Gobain North America donated a zero energy ready house in Canton, Ohio, made with more than 20 of its own products, to Habitat for Humanity.

About CertainTeed

Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has helped shape the building products industry for more than 115 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm’s slogan “Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed,” inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is a leading North American brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, solar, fence, railing, trim, insulation, drywall and ceilings. www.certainteed.com.

About Saint-Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME”.

€44.2 billion in sales in 2021
167,000 employees, located in 75 countries
Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

For more details on Saint-Gobain, visit http://www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on Twitter @saintgobain.