Armstrong Ceilings wins another green award

Armstrong Ceilings has won yet another award for its recycling schemes, this time for a demonstration trial with the exemplar organisation WRAP. The leading manufacturer of interior building solutions was presented with the 2013 Sustainability Award by Mike Hart, chief operating officer of major contractor Willmott Dixon Interiors, at the company's annual supply chain conference and awards on HMS Belfast in London on April 24th.

This latest award was in recognition of Armstrong's part in a WRAP demonstration trial during the refurbishment by Wilmott Dixon Interiors of the London School of Economics where 3,500m2 or 17 tonnes of Ultima mineral tiles were stripped out by Chiltern Demolition and 2,000m2 of Metal microperforated planks with acoustic fleece were installed by BPC Interiors*.

One and a half loads of the old Ultima tiles were returned to Armstrong's production facility at Team Valley, Gateshead, for 100% recycling into the manufacturing mix, while the new Metal tiles were delivered at the same time to local distributor SIG Interiors, ready for installation towards the end of the project. The cost savings were immense.

Landfill savings alone were over £2,000 on gate fees and tax while avoiding transporting the waste to landfill saved £720. Raw resource requirement was reduced by 17 tonnes at an estimated average cost of 13p per kilo, saving £2,200 while costs avoided by the construction site at the LSE were over £2,700. Given the cost of the trial was £1,500 in transport and processing costs, this amounted to a total cost saving of £770. In addition, the gross carbon saving compared with landfill was over 6,000kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), while the net carbon saving - minus the carbon equivalent of additional transport - was over 5,000kg of CO2e.

A WRAP report on the project said:

"The trial demonstrated the benefits and business case for the return of waste ceiling tiles to the manufacturer not only in financial terms but also in environmental terms with CO2 benefits."

Armstrong Ceilings' business development manager Roy Gleiwitz said:

"We were only too pleased to be involved in the WRAP project and to realise the results there and then to be rewarded by Willmott Dixon in such a way is a huge boost for our sustainability programme."

• Armstrong installer BPC Interiors also won a Willmott Dixon Interiors' award - for quality.

ENDS

Caption : Armstrong Ceilings' business development manager Roy Gleiwitz (right) receives the 2013 Sustainability Award from Mike Hart, chief operating officer, Willmott Dixon Interiors.