Recycling
At Troldtekt, we work with the circular economy. Programmes for cement-bonded wood wool leftovers from our own production and customer building sites have been set up in Denmark. Our ambition is also to reuse, recycle and upcycle panels from demolition sites.
In order to utilise the resources of discarded cement-bonded wood wool at the highest possible value level, we divide it into a number of categories according to its potential. This approach allows us to work with multiple solutions in both the biological and technical cycles. It also means we can continuously test new circular models, which we have summarised in our resource hierarchy on the right.
In our resource hierarchy on the right, we provide a comprehensive overview of the options and initiatives that can give the acoustic panels one or more extra life cycles.
Prevention and recycling
The aim is to find solutions as high up in the hierarchy as possible. Preventing waste is thus the best solution. This can be done by preserving the Troldtekt ceiling when a building is renovated or transformed for new purposes. It's easy to paint Troldtekt panels and carry out minor repairs on site – thereby extending the panels’ service life.
Learn more about cleaning, painting and repairing Troldtekt acoustic panels
We also want to help the market ensure that the fully functional acoustic panels are reused in another building. We do this in part through cooperation with contractors, clients and consultants.
Products from buildings can get a second life
When Troldtekt acoustic panels have reached the end of their first life cycle in a building after a minimum of 50 years, reuse, recycling and upcycling can all come into play:
If the panels have reached a state where it no longer makes sense to keep or directly recycle them, we want to ensure they enter a new cycle in another way. This can be recycling on par with production and construction site waste (see below).
However, some of the panels will be in sufficiently good condition to be upcycled into new products via Troldtekt’s own production – meaning they also get a second life.
Complete panels in good condition can simply be reintroduced to the market. We have to determine whether we can upcycle or process panels that have already been through their first life cycle. These may be panels that have been cut to size or painted.
Production waste in the biological and technical cycles
The steps under prevention and reutilisation are upcycling and downcycling. Here at Troldtekt, we have already established return schemes for the cement-bonded wood wool waste that never makes it into the building.
Through our work with Cradle to Cradle Certified, the ingredients in Troldtekt acoustic panels have been analysed. We therefore have documentation that Troldtekt production waste, in the form of discarded panels and offcuts of cement-bonded wood wool from the bevelling of panels, can return to nature’s biological cycle as a soil improver. The same applies to pure cement-bonded wood wool offcuts and waste from building sites.
A local partner near the factory – North Trade House A/S – receives discarded panels and offcuts. In practice, North Trade House then crushes the panels, which are then partially downcycled as wood pellets, for example, and partially upcycled as livestock bedding, paddock surfaces, weed-inhibiting ground cover in forestry and plantations and for stabilising damp roads.
Cement supplier Aalborg Portland takes waste from Troldtekt’s edging workshop and returns it for use in cement production. The wood content of Troldtekt sawdust contributes to the combustion process and replaces fossil fuels (energy), while the cement content becomes raw material (filler) in new cement.
Troldtekt also has a return scheme for waste and offcuts from building sites. The scheme allows customers to return their clean offcuts and waste from the building site, which will then be recycled in the biological cycle via North Trade House – in the same way as the production waste from our own factory.
Troldtekt is searching the Danish and non-Danish market for partners who can help to implement and scale the various return models. Partnerships, together with new methods and pilot projects, are important elements in our work with the circular economy. The ambition is to ensure that Troldtekt creates the greatest possible value in biological and technical cycles.
Building site waste takes on new value
Troldtekt has introduced a return scheme for cement-bonded wood wool that is cut or sorted on building sites. Through the scheme, contractors, clients and other customers can return their clean construction-site offcuts and waste, which will then be recycled in the biological cycle via North Trade House – in the same way as the production waste from our own factory.
The criteria in Troldtekt’s returns guide must be met in order for customers to be able to return offcuts and waste. This means that returns must be pure cement-bonded wood wool cuttings and waste from the building site that is free from plaster, screws and so on.
Circular solutions reduce our environmental footprint
Putting Troldtekt panels into a biological or technical cycle rather than sending them for combustion usually means less impact on the environment. Combustion should only be an option in cases where the only alternative is landfill, which will always be the least environmentally friendly solution.