Rockfon starts ceiling tile takeback program

Chicago-based Rockfon North America, part of the Denmark-based Rockwool Group, says it has launched a ceiling tile and panel takeback program called Rockcycle.

“Customers now can fully support their building project sustainability goals by bringing their end-of-life stone wool acoustic ceiling tiles and panels to Rockwool manufacturing facilities in Mississippi and West Virginia,” says the company.

The company says that stone wool, also known as mineral wool or rock wool and often consisting of basalt and recycled-content mineral slags, can be “repeatedly recycled while maintaining its essential performance properties.”

Rockfon says its acoustic stone wool ceiling tiles and panels are supported with a 30-year warranty and “have a long lifespan contributing to commercial and industrial projects’ interior designs and overall footprint.”

However, the firm says in anticipation of customers’ future needs, it is now offering “a sustainable choice to reduce waste from their projects and extend the material’s use beyond the end of the project life cycle.”

“We fully support the transition to a society based on circular economy principles,” says Rachel Berkin, Rockfon’s senior sustainability manager. “Circularity is at the core of our sustainability strategy because of stone wool’s remarkable benefits. Two important traits are its recyclability and durability.”

Adds Berkin, “Stone wool is endlessly recyclable, meaning that it can be recycled again and again while maintaining its performance properties. The Rockfon team is excited to bring this program to the North American market and offer this sustainable option to our customers.”

In North America, what the firm calls “qualified” end-of-life stone wool will be received at Rockfon production facilities in Ranson, West Virginia, and Byhalia, Mississippi.

Accepted material will be fed back into the production cycle, producing “new high-quality stone wool products [that] are manufactured and contain postconsumer recycled content,” says the building products maker.

Rockfon says its ceiling tiles and panels are designed to be “resistant to the toughest conditions,” adding that stone wool is “antimicrobial without any additives, flame-resistant, hydrophobic and sound absorptive.”

The company says its Rockcycle reclaimed material service program is now available in 21 countries including the United States and Canada, and it plans to offer recycling services for its products in 30 countries by 2030.

Rockfon says more information about the Rockcycle can be found on its website and in a YouTube video it has posted.