Saint-Gobain North America, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed Canada, Inc., has surpassed one million tonnes of recycled gypsum being returned to production at its facility in Delta.
This significant milestone, which is the equivalent of enough gypsum wallboard for nearly 250,000 homes in the province, underscores the company’s commitment to reducing its environmental footprint.
In recognition of this achievement, the company hosted a celebration event on April 5 at the Delta plant, which featured remarks from CertainTeed Canada CEO Julie Bonamy Racine, Vancouver Plant Manager Richard Sebastianelli, New West Gypsum Recycling Vice President Richard McCamley, and a video greeting from Premier David Eby.
The accomplishment comes as Saint-Gobain continues to roll out its global Grow and Impact strategy, which includes reducing waste and increasing the circularity of raw materials in its production processes, allowing Saint-Gobain to achieve a net zero carbon footprint by 2050. In addition, this milestone highlights the importance of public policy focused on sustainability and was enabled by provincial and municipal government efforts to reduce landfill waste and promote circular economy efforts in B.C.
The Delta facility, which began operations in 1975 and is the only gypsum wallboard manufacturing facility in B.C., achieved this milestone in collaboration with New West Gypsum Recycling. New West receives wallboard waste from both CertainTeed and other sources in the province, and through patented technology, is able to pulverize the gypsum core and remove the backing paper, leaving recycled gypsum ready for use. This recycled gypsum is then transported to CertainTeed Vancouver where it is again used in production.
“Surpassing 1,000,000 tonnes of recycled gypsum returned to production is an important milestone, which demonstrates Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed Canada’s commitment to sustainability and minimizing our environmental footprint,” said Bonamy. “Thank you to the provincial government of British Columbia and New West Recycling for your important partnerships and congratulation to our entire Vancouver team for your hard work to make this accomplishment a reality.”
