WOOL2LOOP: the Europe’s first EU innovation project focused on the recovery of mineral wool waste from the construction industry
27/09/2020
The circular economy project WOOL2LOOP has received significant funding from the EU Horizon 2020 (Horizon 2020) funding programme to the get the on the recovery of mineral wool waste from the construction industry and to commercialize mineral wool geopolymer.
The project aims at converting mineral wool from construction and demolition waste into new materials.
In the project, mineral wool waste is recovered through geopolymer technology. Mineral wool geopolymer provides cement substitute raw material for new construction products.
In addition, the project focuses on demolition process, sorting, analysing and processing of mineral wool waste.
In Europe, about 2.5 million tons of mineral wool waste is generated each year in construction and demolition.
At present, mineral wool waste is almost completely landfilled, resulting in an annual cost of around EUR 250 million for the construction sector.
By producing new building products by geopolymerization from mineral wool waste, it is possible to replace the virgin raw materials used in construction and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of building materials production and construction industry.
The impact of the project is created from co-operation across the entire value chain of mineral wool waste recycling. The project involves a total of 15 companies and research institutes, as well as extensive pilots and demonstrations across Europe. The project includes the world’s largest construction material producers and innovative start-up companies in the field of circular economy.
