Product Circularity
To become Cradle to Cradle certified, a material must be able to enter new cycles. It can be a biological cycle, where the material becomes nutrients in nature, or a technical cycle, where the material can become a resource in the creation of new products.
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.
To utilise the resources of waste 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 several different solutions in both the biological and technical cycles –and continuously test new circular models that we outline in our resource hierarchy:
Prevention and recycling
The aim is to find solutions as high up in the hierarchy as possible. Preventing waste is therefore 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 the Troldtekt panels and make minor repairs on site – thereby extending the panels’ service life.
Read 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 will do this in collaboration with contractors, builders 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 50–80 years, reuse, downcycling 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).
But some of the panels will be in sufficiently good condition to be upcycled into new products via Troldtekt’s own production – in other words, they will 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.
Waste and offcuts in the biological and technical cycle
The steps under prevention and reuse are upcycling and downcycling. Here at Troldtekt, we have already established return schemes for the cement-bonded wood wool waste that never ends up in the building.
Through our work with Cradle to Cradle Certified, the ingredients in Troldtekt acoustic panels are analysed. We therefore have proof that Troldtekt production waste, in the form of discarded panels and cut cement-bonded wood wool from the bevelling of panels, can be returned to the biological cycle as a soil improver. The same applies to pure cement-bonded wood wool offcuts and waste from building sites.
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 being to ensure that Troldtekt creates the greatest possible value in biological and technical cycles.
Schemes for waste from production
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 reused as wood pellets, for example, or recycled as animal 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.
Return scheme for building site offcuts and waste
Troldtekt also has a return scheme for waste and offcuts from building sites. As a contractor or timber merchant, the scheme allows you to return your 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.
- Download a flyer about the return scheme
- Download the return guide
When is it worthwhile to return?
When it comes to the carbon footprint, it's worthwhile transporting offcuts and waste for recycling at North Trade House in Brande, even if your building site is up to 1,000 kilometres away. Below you can see the carbon emissions from driving to Brande as an alternative to local incineration or landfill.
When shipping by sea, emissions are significantly lower for corresponding distances.
| CO2e-emissions (kg) per Troldtekt panel | ||||
| 50 km | 100 km | 500 km | 1,000 km | |
| Return transport for downcycling in Brande, Denmark | 3.5 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 5.4 |
| Incineration + transport to local site | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Landfill + transport to local site | 9.8 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 9.8 |
The table is based on calculations made by Stefan E. Danielsson, an independent verifier associated with EPD Denmark.
Criteria for calculating transport footprints:
- The transport is based on the number of kilometres driven in a truck (diesel). It is assumed that full loads are always transported and return journeys with an empty truck are not included.
- The transport includes road transport only. If part of the transport takes place by sea, it reduces the CO2 impact.
Criteria for calculating landfill footprints:
- In the calculations, the landfill footprint is calculated over 100 years, as this is normal practice when calculating the environmental footprint.
- The calculation assumes the use of flaring. This is a method of capturing and burning the greenhouse gases produced by decomposition under anaerobic conditions that apply to landfills. This is where methane and carbon dioxide are produced. Methane is most harmful, but can be reduced to carbon dioxide when incinerated.
- The calculation assumes that methane emissions are reduced by 60 per cent when using flaring. The figure is based on calculations of the use of flaring to reduce greenhouse gases in the EU. Read more about landfill and flaring at DTU Sustain
Circular solutions reduce our environmental footprint
Putting Troldtekt panels into a biological or technical cycle rather than sending them for incineration usually means less impact on the environment. Incineration should only be an option in cases where the only alternative is landfill, which will always be the least environmentally friendly solution.