Sustainability
We care for the people who make our products, the people who use them and the world we all depend on

As the market leader and a non-stop innovator, quality excellence and sustainability are at the heart of everything we do; whilst we have a strong focus on the thermal, fire and acoustic performance of our products, our pursuit of sustainability has much wider horizons.

Whilst we are dedicated to supplying sustainable high performance insulation solutions for enhanced energy efficiency in buildings, we also continually strive for improvements in our manufacturing and supply chain operations to improve quality and minimise our impact on the environment. All Knauf Insulation production locations have state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and meet the highest quality standards, supported by an ongoing research and development program.

Raw Materials

Our Glass Mineral Wool insulation solutions contain up to 80% of recycled materials, the majority of which comes from the recently opened Veolia Glass Cullet facility. By maximising the amount of recycled glass cullet in the manufacture of our products, we minimise our need for mineral raw materials.

Our revolutionary bio-based binder, ECOSE® Technology avoids the use of petrochemicals. It is 70% less energy intensive than traditional binders, reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions at our manufacturing facilities.

Our work to ensure safe and legal operations in our supply chain has enabled us to achieve certification to the Building Research Establishment's responsible sourcing standard BES 6001.

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Manufacturing

Partnering with Siemens, we are unlocking efficiency opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint, saving the equivalent annual energy usage of almost 800 homes.

Our commitment to fair and safe working practices in our own facilities is embedded in our code of conduct, and reflected in the ISO 45001 certification covering all our production sites.

All our facilities are also certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 standards.

We avoid waste and prevent pollution; we segregate factory waste to maximise recycling and to meet our expectation of sending zero waste to landfill from our
UK plants.

Packaging & Distribution

Our industry-leading compression-packaging technology allows us to load more product onto each truck that leaves our factories. This means less packaging, fewer vehicles on our roads, so less CO2 emissions. It also means less storage space required for our customers. 

We have recently been trimming the weight of the pallets we use in the UK, cutting around 2kg per pallet, equating to a total saving of around 5,000 trees/year.

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Building

Our products release very low levels of volatile substances which affect indoor air quality, attested by their certification to Eurofins Gold Certificate for Indoor Air Comfort.

The overall environmental performance of our products is reported in Environmental Product Declarations. They are available for all our products, verified by an independent third-party and comply with the European standard EN 15804. They are also registered with the Europe-wide ECO-Platform.

Our Glass Mineral Wool and Blowing Wool products are also registered in the BRE's UK-specific Certified Environmental Profiles scheme. The majority of our products, both Glass and Rock Mineral Wool, are rated A+ in the BRE Green Guide.

BREEAM Recognition

To help specifiers working in LEED- and BREEAM-registered projects get the most recognition for using Knauf Insulation’s products, we produce BREEAM and LEED factsheets which show just which credits are available for each product type and also provide the necessary supporting evidence – click here to access.

Download BREEAM Glass Mineral Wool Information sheet

In addition, the majority of our products, both Glass and Rock Mineral Wool fall into the A+ category of the BRE Green Guide Rating. You can download our useful information sheets which illustrate where our products contribute to BREEAM credits:

Download BREEAM Rock Mineral Wool Information sheet

DECLARE 'RED LIST FREE' Recognition

Our entire glass mineral wool product range, and all of our unfaced rock mineral wool products made with ECOSE® Technology, have been awarded the DECLARE 'Red List Free' label.

The DECLARE label allows architects and specifiers to see what is in a product to help them make informed choices. It includes a ‘nutrition-style’ list of ingredients, and whether it contains chemicals featured on the DECLARE ‘Red List’ – substances designated as harmful to health and the environment, such as added formaldehyde. It also includes information about where a product comes from.

The DECLARE label shows clear and transparent details such as:

  • Where a product comes from,
  • What it's made of,
  • Whether it contains chemicals featured on the DECLARE ‘Red List’. These are substances to avoid because they could be harmful to health and the environment.

To achieve the DECLARE label, we’ve gone through rigorous testing and disclosed the entire composition of our products down to 0.01%.

Our glass mineral wool range is manufactured with up to 80% recycled content and the remaining percentage composed entirely from Red List Free raw materials. Our rock mineral wool products are manufactured using around 35% recycled content (recycled material mostly from the steel industry along with customer production waste).

The use of ‘Red List Free’ products is already a key factor in achieving credits in Green Building Rating Systems such as LEED and the Well Building Standard. This means the DECLARE label can be used by architects, housebuilders and installers to support their own sustainability and health and safety credentials. 

To view our DECLARE labels, please see below.

DECLARE Label - Supafil® Party Wall DECLARE Label - Other Supafil® Products DECLARE Label - Rock Mineral Wool with ECOSE® Technology Products DECLARE Label - Glass Mineral Wool Products

CO2nstructZero

Knauf Insulation has been selected as a net zero ‘Business Champion’ by the Construction Leadership Council and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for the CO2nstructZero initiative. It joins a select group of major contractors, consultants, architects, engineers, manufacturers and sub-contractors committed to demonstrating leadership and promoting best practice to reduce construction carbon emissions.

SCSS – Supply Chain Sustainability School

Awarded Gold status from Supply Chain Sustainability School - The School works together with its Partners and members to provide an online and in-person community improving the knowledge of the built environment sector.