Protecting the environment

Rockfon is an environmentally focused company. As a subsidiary company of Rockwool International A/S, Rockfon has joined the International Chamber of Commerce’s environmental charter. Every year Rockwool International publishes an environmental report.

Rockfon ceiling tiles are made from the following components:

Use of raw materials

The rock used to create our stone wool is not a scarce resource. Every year the earth’s volcanoes and plate tectonics produce 38.000 times more rock material than is being used to make the stone wool inherent in Rockwool products and Rockfon acoustic ceilings. Nevertheless, it is our goal that 25% of our natural rock raw materials shall be substituted by residue materials from other industries and combustible waste materials. Altogether Rockwool Group factories in Europe recycle 400.000 tonnes of waste materials from other industries, such as waste from the aluminium industry.

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Waste and recycling

When producing our stone wool, we recycle three times more residue materials from other industries than we deposit ourselves. We will continue to reduce waste from our processes in the future. From 2002 – 2007 Rockwool waste to landfill has decreased by 56%.

Rockfon ceilings can be produced with stone wool consisting of 100% recycled products. For details of our recycling procedures please contact your local representative.

Packaging

Rockfon’s acoustic ceilings are packaged in recyclable corrugated cardboard ring layers and polyethylene foil that can be recycled or incinerated to carbon dioxide and water.

Carbon footprint

All of our factories constantly monitor and document their emissions of CO2. Due to the insulating properties of stone wool, Rockwool products will save 162 times more CO2 than they emit during their manufacture, transport and disposal. This does not mean that we will stop improving our supply chain. From 2002-2007 overall energy efficiency increased by 9% (throughout Rockwool). In the same period CO2 efficiency was improved by 6%.

Life cycle

As stone wool is non hygroscopic, the tiles withstand up to 100% relative humidity and maintain dimensional stability. The stone wool does not contain organic nutrients and so is not attacked by rot, fungi or bacteria. Rockfon’s excellent humidity resistance and extremely low susceptibility to microorganisms is supported in tests by the independent BSRIA consultants in UK and SP Technical Research Institute in Sweden. Stone wool material does not burn and it withstands temperatures of more than 1000°C for 120 minutes without melting, thereby providing excellent fire safety. All these features together combine to make Rockfon ceilings a high quality performance ceiling with excellent longevity and whole life value.

Environmental declarations

For a wide range of products Rockfon comply with several environmental declaration schemes, such as:

• Fiches de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire (FDES) France
• Sunda Hus, Sweden
• Green Label, Singapore
• Green Label, Taiwan

REACH – Europe’s new chemicals regulation

REACH is the EU’s new Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It aims at identifying dangerous substances and eliminating them from products and supply chains so that they can no longer harm human health and the environment. Rockfon is fully aligned to REACH and continuously screens its suppliers in a regular and detailed manner.

Environmental management system

All Rockfon factories monitor environmental performance through stringent environmental management systems. Results are published in Rockwool’s environmental report available at www.rockwool.com