SUSTAINABILITY 21 The natural raw material gypsum is extracted from a mine near the factory and the water required comes from a river near the factory. The cardboard originates primarily from Germany, while the percentage supplied from Austria is continuously increasing. To constantly develop the production processes further in terms of their (energy) efficiency, the WCM (World Class Manufacturing) is established at Saint-Gobain as the management system. Compared to dry construction solutions with traditional construction methods, light-weight construction with Rigips is clearly in the lead: • fewer natural resources per m² useable area are needed for production. • The energy consumption in production is lower. • The CO2 emissions are lower throughout the entire lifecycle. • Great savings of time result during the pre-fabrication in the factory as well as during the assembly at the construction site. • Dry construction systems offer flexible design options. • Gypsum is 100% infinitely recyclable. Figure 16 – Recycling cycle of gypsum Recycling In the mining of Rigips Austria, in Grundlsee and Puchberg, gypsum is extracted in surface mining. As the raw material deposits are limited, the return and use of scraps are top priorities. The aim is to continuously develop the recycling service range further and thereby raise the recycling quota of the boards (see Figure 16). At this time, 6% of each Rigips board is manufactured of recycling material already – the midterm target is 10% and in the long term, 30% of a Rigips board is to consist of recycled material. Transparency – environmental product declaration Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) To evaluate the sustainability of buildings, data about the installed building materials are needed. An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) provides information about the environmental effects of individual products or building materials, thereby forming the basis for a building certification. Besides Environmental Product Declarations for all boards produced in Bad Aussee (33 product EPDs), Rigips Austria is also providing 63 declarations for relevant Rigips wall and ceiling systems since 2016 (see Figure 17). The data is available at any time (also at www.baubook.info) and helps in the planning according to requirements for the use of sustainable construction products. Figure 17 – Development of the EPD Rigips System RIGIPS System-EPD RIGIPS System-EPD – 1 ½ H2 O + 1 ½ H2 O Gypsum CaSO4 • 2H2O CaSO4 • ½ H2O Gypsum powder
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