What is regarded as eco-friendly insulation? Eco-friendly insulation products are roof insulation products that do not have chemicals or other harmful products in the composition.
In fact, in my book, an eco-friendly insulation product is a product manufactured from what would generally be pollution.
And this does not mean products like paper and cardboard as there is a large market for recycled paper.
So we do not see the point of calling paper cellulose insulation eco-friendly. The more we blow this into roofs, the more trees need to be cut down. All Eco-insulation type products are recyclable as well as eco-friendly.
What is Eco-friendly Insulation
In my opinion, an insulation product that would like to be classified as eco-friendly must be itself recyclable. Now, that’s a tough ask. Are there any eco-friendly insulation products?
The Isotherm Insulation is manufactured from PET plastic bottles like the Coke Fanta bottles etc. They now remember that these plastic bottles would be pollution in landfill sites and our oceans for 450 years.
The claim of eco-friendly insulation gives this product the top award indeed. Also, consider that the percentage of plastic bottles that are recycled is only a few per cent globally—leaving megatonnes still as pollution.
Because Isotherm Insulation is manufactured from recycled bottles, it has the most extended lifespan of all insulation products. There are no chemicals in Isotherm and no resin binders.
Isotherm has a natural fibre binding process. The Isotherm Insulation is Dust Free and Allergy Free.
Why Is Paper Insulation Not Regarded as Eco-friendly Insulation
Well, in my opinion, I don’t believe this is based on a few factors that we will list below. Remembering, as we mentioned earlier, eco-friendly insulation should be manufactured from recycled products. However, the most significant factor is the product itself should be recyclable to be regarded as an eco-insulation product.
- Recycled newspapers with inks and pigments can’t be too healthy, surely.
- Chemical composition of up to 25% must be added to give fire retardancy, including rodent repellents.
- Could this fine paper dust like insulation be safe?
- Can the Cellulose paper insulation be recycled? The answer is no, it can’t be recycled, and this we know as we remove tons of paper insulation out of homes throughout South Africa. The installers of the so-called eco-insulation will not take this from us as we have offered. Instead, this eco-friendly type of insulation must be dumped at a hazardous chemical site Fisserhok.
- How much of these megatons of paper could have to be reused as recycled paper products etc.?
- This means that because this product can’t be recycled, more forests need to be cut down to accommodate this.
- Our environment is on a knife-edge with the ozone layer and our planet under pressure. Rainforests are an essential part of the environment.
- Today more than ever, we are told not to print unless it is necessary.
Is Cellulose Paper Insulation Eco-friendly
Please note this is my opinion as I believe Roof Insulation products should be recyclable to be regarded as eco-friendly.
We remove tons of cellulose fibre homeowners have leaks in their roofs and then end up with costly ceiling damage as the insulation absorbs the water.
Remember this is finely shredded paper, so it will absorb water, unlike roll for insulation, allowing the water to run through the insulation.
Now when we remove the cellulose with our industrial vacuum machine, we can only dump this paper insulation at the hazardous chemical dumpsite; this is because of all the chemicals and dyes and pigments from print data.
Newsprint and paper are all regarded as recyclable. However, once converted to Cellulose, this is considered to be a hazardous chemical product and can only be dumped at the Fissershok Dumpsite.
Not even the manufactures of cellulose can reuse this product.
How Effective Is Fine Paper Dust Insulation
With the winds in the Cape and the two months of rain in winter, I would say not effective. Our lead time on removing these so-called eco-friendly insulation products is almost six weeks. In many homes, we find the insulation has piled up on one side of the house, with the wind and very little on the other side of the home.
The other problem that we face is that the paper absorbs water and becomes very heavy with an inevitable ceiling collapse.
We have removed paper blown-in insulation from many homes where an expensive ceiling collapse has occurred. Remember, when this happens, your loved ones or little ones could be trapped under this lot as it comes down. Further to that there can and will be damage to appliances TVs Hi-Fi etc.
