Facilities

Saint-Gobain installs gypsum recycling technology at Arkansas plant

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Building materials manufacturer Saint-Gobain, with North American headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has installed recycling technology at its gypsum wallboard plant in Nashville, Arkansas, through its building products subsidiary, CertainTeed LLC, Malvern.

According to a news release by Saint-Gobain, the technology will allow the plant to recycle 65,000 tons of materials annually that otherwise would have been sent to landfill. The project represents a $1.3 million investment from CertainTeed.

Gypsum wallboard is made from a gypsum slurry that is poured and dried 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 works by grinding the scrap gypsum and wastepaper down into fine particles, allowing the plant to capture and internally recycle the materials. Then, the materials are sorted and reintroduced to the production process at the plant.

“We remain laser-focused on reducing waste, reducing our consumption of natural resources and increasing recycling and circularity throughout our value chain,” says Jay Bachmann, vice president and general manager of CertainTeed Gypsum.

The plant and the mine employ about 200 people.