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(Backhouse et al. 2021)

Mineral wool is a general term for a range of inorganic fibrous insulation products, produced by melting raw materials in a furnace before spinning the melt into extremely fine fibres which are combined in layers, often with the addition of a binder (Sirok et al., 2008).

Waste from manufacturing can comprise of raw materials removed during screening, cupola furnace dust and slag, waste from the fiberizing process, cutting waste and dust and defective product (Grass et al., 2021).

The majority of this waste can be directly recycled by the manufacturer, typically all but a few percent (Dunster, 2007). This correlates with the waste data available, which represents around 4% of 2019 production volumes of glass-fibre / mineral wool products (685,016 tonnes) (ONS, 2021).