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Waste Drywall Finds New Life As Gypsum Products
REINHOLDS, Pa. -- USA Gypsum has added a new entry to its line of gypsum products made out of waste drywall from construction sites.
The company's new granular gypsum, made entirely from recycled drywall, is being marketed for use on lawns, gardens and crops. Gypsum loosens hard soil and clay, allowing in air and moisture, and provides calcium and sulfate. It's also used to repair damage from ice-melting salt.
USA Gypsum collects unpainted excess drywall from construction sites, primarily in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. The company provides various collection methods like roll-out containers or crews that pick up and load the material. Terry Weaver, USA Gypsum president, said they also have affiliates in areas they cannot serve regularly. The affiliate companies receive and stockpile gypsum until there is a large enough load to ship for recycling.
During recycling, paper is separated from the gypsum core and turned into animal bedding, while the gypsum is reformed into ultra-fine, pulverized, pellet or granular gypsum. "We are recycling 100 percent of the material we get in," Weaver said.
In the last couple years, the company has collected about 20,000 tons of gypsum annually, he said. USA Gypsum has developed supply lines through working one-on-one with construction companies, Weaver said, and has benefited from the growing green building movement. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program offers points for recycling construction waste.
"In many cases the contractor was initially almost forced by the owner to recycle drywall because the owner wanted the LEED points," Weaver said. "After the projects, they realized it's easy, convenient and they're saving some money."
Most of the virgin gypsum offered in USA Gypsum's main market, the northeastern states where it also sources drywall, comes from Nova Scotia, Spain, Mexico or mines in Indiana and Michigan, Weaver said highlighting the fact that USA Gypsum collects, manufactures and distributes its products all in the same region.
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drywall is not just gypsum
I don't know why no one is bringing this up: modern drywall contains non-biodegradable and persistent toxic additives -- including EDTA, some plasticizers, some mildew and fire retardants, and fiberglass. The paper often contains toxic dyes and additives. It cannot be safely returned to soil or reclaimed by industry without compromising human and environmental health. A little bit here and there isn't going to kill anyway, but this is being done on the scale of billions of pounds of "recycled gypsum" -- again a misleading idea, in that modern adulterated drywall cannot be brought back to a state of "just gypsum" by any known process.
Please tell me I'm wrong?!
additives in waste gypsum
Even though waste plasterboard (drywall) does contain additives. The quantity is extremely low and are applicable to specialised plasterboard such as acoustic and fire boards.
Furthermore, most of the waste gypsum (picked up from job sites rather than being dumped at landfills) is actually put back into the manufacturing of new plasterboard. Meaning that you will never see large scale use of gypsum as fertilizer, animal bedding additive etc.
One of the reasons why most of the gypsum is re-used rather than offered as a new by-product is that it prevents manufacturers from having to mine more raw gypsum. This has a very beneficial impact on the environment.
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