European Parliament decides against promoting #MineralWool while EU policy-making on building insulation develops 

At the special EU council summit at the end of July the leaders of the EU member states agreed on an unprecedented long-term and recovery budget after almost five days of negotiations. It is supposed to make billions of euro available for projects that are in line with the EU’s climate and environmental goals, writes Martin Banks.

To this end, the European Commission has included the Renovation Wave in their post-COVID-19 recovery plan. It is expected to adopt this initiative in September. In parallel, it will be consulting on the revision of the rules that govern construction products at the EU level until 18 August. The revision itself could take years.

Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, the Industry Committee adopted a motion for a resolution on the closely related topic of "maximizing the energy efficiency potential of the EU building stock", based on a broad compromise between the major political groups EPP, S&D, Renew and Greens/EFA. It took into account an opinion that the Environment Committee had previously adopted in the matter.

There, MEP Jutta Paulus (Germany), on behalf of the Greens Group, had proposed as amendment to the draft opinion that the European Parliament “[s]tresses […]  that there is no common EU legislation on the management of bulky but recyclable waste such as stone wool; expresses its concern about the safe handling of insulation materials such as polystyrene, during demolition as well as in waste treatment, given the possible inclusion of dangerous substances in them that put a threat to the non-toxic environment”.

It surprised some  that the Greens Group would promote stone wool, which is also known as mineral wool, as a specific synthetic insulation material, given that its recyclability has been widely challenged. Just taking recent examples from Austria, state TV ORF published an article describing mineral wool, in Austria called Tellwolle, as being “as carcinogenic as asbestos”, unrecyclable and not even suitable for incineration, but instead piling up in landfills.

Researchers from the renowned Montanuniversitat Leoben underpinned such observations by highlighting several challenges, not only regarding the recycling of mineral wool, but even its safe disposal, which originate from both its bulky form and the health concerns surrounding it.

They found that during the collection of mineral wool waste, no distinction between its forms glass wool and rock wool is made, which would be necessary for many recycling options. Also, certain mineral wool waste “is classified as hazardous waste type 31437 g “Asbestos Waste, Asbestos Dust” in Austria, since some characteristics of such fibres are similar to those of asbestos fibres.” According to the researchers, mineral wool waste that occurs due to the dismantling of a building is primarily not relatable to a certain year of production or to a certain industrial producer.

Because of the precautionary principle, this mineral wool waste would need to be classified as possibly carcinogenic or ‘old’ mineral wool and therefore as hazardous waste. Even for disposal, this mineral wool would have to be gathered in hermetically sealed packages, such as big bags, which resulted in an unstable landfill body.

In the end, the Greens also agreed to the compromise, which avoids that the European Parliament favours one material over the other. The final text now stresses the need for the adequate management and reduction of construction and demotion waste.

It notes that collection and take back schemes and sorting facilities should be created to ensure appropriate and safe handling of all construction waste, as well as for the recycling or reuse of building materials, and for the safe handling, removal and substitution of hazardous substances in waste streams, in order to protect the health of occupants and workers as well as the environment. It calls on the European Commission to propose concrete measures on these issues.

The plenary of the European Parliament is expected to adopt the resolution on 14 September. However, the issues surrounding construction materials, including mineral wool, will continue to merit carefully considering which material is really energy-efficient, safe affordable and recyclable at the same time, and debating which kind of material we want to support with significant public funds in the upcoming Renovation Wave.

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