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Valorize, Don’t Landfill !

Construction and demolition (C&D) works inevitably involve large volumes of waste from man-made mineral fibers (MMMF), such as glass and rock wool.

In Austria, MMMF products that have been manufactured by a member of the Austrian Association of Mineral Wool Industry since 1998 are not considered dangerous.

In the case of demolition and renovation works, the required documentation of non-hazardousness (manufacturer’s proof with product safety data sheets, invoices, reference to goods seal, hazard evaluation by means of chemical analysis) is not feasible. Therefore, to this day, all MMMF waste is classified as hazardous and landfilled under the appropriate key numbers for hazardous waste.

The landfilling of MMMF waste is associated with a relatively high consumption of landfill capacity. Any landfill operator can attest that the low density of this waste stream, even after compaction in a baler, requires a special, more laborious process.

With the recent amendment of the Landfill Ordinance of 2008, a landfill ban for MMMF waste is planned in Austria from January 1st, 2027.

The binding Austrian regulation “Artificial mineral fiber waste – MMMF waste from the construction site” published in 2019 states: “Material valorization of the MMMF waste is permitted if the treatment ensures that the products produced do not have any hazardous properties. There are currently no known suitable valorization processes for MMMF waste in Austria”.

The legal regulations mentioned, the state of the art that is not up to date, as well as a large number of research projects send a clear message: There is an urgent need for a technology that not only eliminates the hazardous properties of MMMF waste, but also economically converts it into a value-added product.

The focus of our company lies on the development of technologies in which mineral input materials are melted in an inductively heated inline furnace. For C&D MMMF waste, we consider our innovation to be market-ready. We offer companies in the waste processing & valorization sector an opportunity to develop products or substitute raw materials based on inductive melting technology by valorizing C&D MMMF waste.

The simplest solution, as an intermediate step, to landfill melted, inert and significantly volume-reduced (more than 50-fold) MMMF waste, can be implemented promptly with the technology we have developed.

For more information please contact us at https://www.ibe.at/de/kontakt/ or office@ibe.at.