Drywall Recycling Market: Manufacture of New Drywall

Scrap drywall can be recycled back into the manufacture of new drywall; this is currently practiced by many wallboard manufacturers with their own post manufacturer scrap. While a small amount of paper is tolerable acceptable, the majority must be removed. Typical recycled amounts range 10 % to 20%. Recycling of post-consumer gypsum wallboard into new drywall is currently being practiced in several areas of North America.

In some areas, new drywall is manufactured with synthetic gypsum, a waste product of air pollution control technology at coal-fired power plants, or a byproduct of other manufacturing processes. This, along with the recycling of post-manufacturer scrap, could limit the ability (or desire) of some plants to recycle post-consumer scrap drywall.