Ecology - European Recycling Award

Puren-Schaumstoff GmbH from Überlingen was honoured with the European Recyling Award for innovative work in the area of recycling technology

(Überlingen). At the occassion of the opening of the 2nd "Recycla Europe" environmental trade fair at the end of October 1997 in Stuttgart and with Dr. Angela Merkel present, Federal Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety at the time, today Germany's Chancellor, Puren-Schaumstoff GmbH, Überlingen, was awarded the "2nd European Recycling Award" for their various innovative achievements in recycling technology. puren participated in the competition with a construction material made of recycled polyurethane rigid foam and its associated recycling technology, having also been developed in-house.

For the manufacture of this “chip board”-like material with the trade name "purenit" shredded PUR production waste is mixed with adhesives and compressed using pressure and heat. The jury particularly appreciated the fact that the result was an "Upcycled Product", i.e. a high-quality secondary product made of materials previously classified as waste.

In comparison to wood products, purenit provides a remarkably better thermal insulation. In addition, it excels by being unsuceptible to moisture, therefore does not swell and thus can support extreme mechanical loads. Those properties make it well suited for some of its numerous applications, e.g. core material for sandwich constructions for wet and damp locations, concealed edge band in doors, ship building and kitchen furniture manufacture.

The latest developments are taking place in window construction, particularly as concerns thermal insulation properties and mechanical strength of recycled materials. At the moment, puren is developing a window frame concept especially for low-energy and so-called passive houses to significantly improve thermal insulation and reduce overall heating cost.