Recycling tiles and board from construction projects
How you can recycle or reuse tile and board materials on your construction project, and the potential benefits.
Tile and board materials used in the construction industry include:
- ceramic wall and floor tiles
- slate, glass, marble, stone and porcelain wall and floor tiles
- panelboard products - eg medium density fibreboard (MDF) or chipboard
The amount of tiles wasted during installation is around:
- 8 to 10 per cent for wall and floor tiles
- 1 to 5 per cent waste for flooring tiles
- 5 to 10 per cent for rolls of flooring
The main causes of wastage from tiles and board include off-cuts, breakages and over ordering.
Recycling options for tiles and board
The processes used to recycle tiles and board are:
- Fibresolve - subjecting wood fibre to a vacuum and pressurised steam with mechanical agitation at a high temperature
- Microrelease - using microwaves to reclaim wood fibres from the resin
- thermohydrolic processes - separating the adhesive from the wood fibres
- composting
However, there are limitations to recycling tiles and board. These material types are rarely recovered due to the short timescales for planning and carrying out demolition work.
Making changes to your site operations
You can make simple yet effective changes to your site's operations to allow more tiles and board to be recycled by:
- planning slower demolition periods
- providing staff with training in handling
- recovering materials and not sending them to landfill
- improving transport procedures
Potential end uses for recovered tiles and board
Recovered tiles and board can be used in applications and materials including:
- reusing tiles as reclaimed materials
- recycling into aggregate
- producing mineral fibre acoustic ceiling tiles
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