The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, Alexandria, Va., has conducted a survey of its members’ use of pre- and post-consumer recycled materials in their insulation products during 2006-07. It revealed U.S. manufacturers used almost 4.2 billion pounds (1.9 billion
kg) of recycled materials in the production of residential, commercial, industrial and air-handling thermal and acoustical insulation. That is an increase of almost 62 percent compared with 2005.

Use of recycled glass rose by 107 percent and use of reclaimed slag grew by 55.5 percent. Canadian members used 593 million pounds (269 million kg) of recycled glass and more than 176 million pounds (80 million kg) of slag, representing an increase of 66 and 129 percent, respectively, since 2005. Since the industry’s recycling program began in 1992, NAIMA’s members’
plants have diverted almost 33 billion pounds (15 billion kg) of recycled materials from the waste stream. For more information, visit www.naima.org.