The Green Building Revolution: Plasterboard’s Sustainability and Environmental Impact

The climate crisis has reached a fever pitch in 2023. The tangible results of carbon dioxide pollution are being felt across the Western world after already having begun to ravage the continents of Africa and Asia. As the UK continues to experience wild weather patterns and unsustainable temperature aberrations, the pressure has grown higher on governments and businesses to act in the name of the planet.

Industries shoulder the greatest proportion of responsibility for carbon emissions on both a national and global scale. The construction industry is a point of particular concern, with the manufacture of materials and the energy spent on construction contributing a great deal to pollution.

As such, all eyes are on the construction sector to lean into a green building revolution. Materials are a large part of this, and even common materials like plasterboard have a part to play. But how?

Reduced Carbon Footprint

The leading positive impact of plasterboard as a building material is its positive impact on carbon emissions for a given project. Using plasterboard to clad walls can result in a much lower carbon footprint, owing to the relative lightness of the material and the sustainable manner in which many plasterboard products are now produced.

Plasterboard products today are much stronger and more hard-wearing than they once were, suiting them for a much wider range of practical applications. Its ability here to replace other materials makes it a powerful eco-friendly material to use, particularly in a landscape where the material requirements of the built environment contributes to a tenth of global emissions.

Energy Efficiency

Plasterboard products are not just an environmental positive for their carbon footprint, though. Plasterboard can also be used in domestic and commercial applications as an energy-efficient material, with newer plasterboard designs ramping up its insulative qualities. Used in conjunction with mineral wool insulation, properties can be made more energy-efficient, thus further reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.

Waste Reduction

Plasterboard can be relatively hard-wearing, but nonetheless may be replaced on a semi-regular basis – accounting for the natural redesigning of commercial and domestic spaces, and further innovation in energy-efficient insulant materials. When plasterboard is removed, it needs to be disposed of; herein lies the next green benefit of the material.

Plasterboard is mostly composed of natural mineral materials, with gypsum being the primary ingredient to the plaster mix. Between the gypsum and the recyclable card and paper backings that bound it, plasterboard is an easy material to dispose of or recycle.

Indoor Air Quality

Finally, there is the matter of air quality. Using straight plaster to clad interior spaces can introduce unwanted particulates into the air; so too can the use of treated plywood as a cladding material. Plasterboard produces fewer harmful particulates, with newer products boasting fewer pollutants.

Not only this, but new product designs have enabled new plasterboard products to act as a form of air filter; pollutants present in the air are absorbed and broken down, making for a fresher and cleaner home environment.