Sustainable Products

Knauf products are a guarantee of the highest quality and environmental protection. Our products and systems stand for sustainable building, which enables energy-efficient and healthy living and working. At the same time, we are responding to our product responsibility with regard to safety and health for users and users.

Gypsum: a natural raw material

Gypsum is a natural raw material, which can be easily obtained and is easy to process. It is usually solved, selected, broken and further processed in quarries by blasting or other means. Knauf has more than 70 quarries worldwide. In terms of sustainability, gypsum is a resource available in large quantities, and degradation is ecologically compatible. Quarries that are no longer used are reprocessed or re-cultivated by Knauf.

Save energy and reduce emissions

But plaster is not just an environmentally friendly building material. The products produced by Knauf from gypsum and other minerals also have outstanding sustainability properties. The largest part of the gypsum processed by Knauf comes on the market in the form of gypsum boards, where the gypsum is located between two layers of cardboard. Many gypsum board products are equipped with special properties, such as heat and sound insulation or improve the protection against moisture, thus saving energy and comfort.

Use of secondary raw materials

Product responsibility starts with the raw materials. Knauf mainly processes gypsum plaster as well as synthetic plaster from industrial processes and power plants. Natural gypsum is a non-renewable raw material, but it is available in large quantities. Synthetic or REA gypsum is considered a secondary raw material, since it is produced as a by-product, in particular from the desulphurization of coal-fired power stations in high quality.

Depending on the location, the application rate of REA gypsum is different for Knauf. In 2014 the share of natural gypsum over all companies and countries in this report was 39% (2013: 41%), of REA gypsum 57% (2013: 58%). In the case of recycling gypsum, we have succeeded in increasing the share to 4% (2013: 1%). The carton of gypsum sheets is basically 100% recycled paper.

Apart from gypsum and cardboard, water and additives are also used in our most significant products, the gypsum boards. Additives are used to achieve specific product properties, to facilitate work on the construction site or to protect facades against negative environmental influences and damage. Our research for ever more environmentally friendly products means that we continually put the use of additives to the test. The use of water in the production of plates is also reduced year by year as this shortens the drying times and thus the energy consumption.

User protection as a distinguishing feature

At Knauf, we know that we can only protect our good reputation by launching products that are harmless to their users. As a manufacturer of products, which often contain chemical substances as well as natural products, we are subject to the information requirements of the European Chemicals Regulations (REACH) (GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Laboratory of Chemicals) and since 1 July 2013 of the EU Construction Products Directive (EU No. 305/2011).

For our customers, we provide service declarations, safety data sheets and CE markings for all relevant products. They contain information on the composition, physical and chemical properties, handling and storage, possible dangers, environmental information as well as information on disposal - for the German market can be found on the Internet at http://pd.knauf.de ,
for the Swiss market Http://pd.knauf.ch .