Innovation

Owens Corning, a developer and producer of insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites, addresses many of the United Nations 17 Sustainable goals. This project focuses on how Owens Corning is tackling Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production through their Product Stewardship Process. Among the Fortune 500, Owens Corning is an exceptional member among already exceptional firms. Our student group from the University of Toledo interviewed Gale Tedhams, Director of Sustainability at Owens Corning. Gale has been with Owens Corning for over 15 years. Previously she was Product and Program manager and she now is Director of Sustainability for Product and Supply Chain Sustainability. She leads the Owens Corning green products strategy and communications.

She described to us how Owens Corning has been able to achieve the massive success while increasing the organizations profits. They are fueled by a commitment to preserving the environment. Manufacturing industrial building materials is a resource intensive industry and large amounts of industrial chemicals, global shipping, and the energy consumption associated with intense production demands typically pushes firms in this sector towards creating more environmental problems than they solve. Gale told us that Owens Corning, however, breaks this destructive cycle through their innovative product stewardship.

Owens Corning makes their fiberglass process more sustainable by incorporating recycled glass into the their products. Reducing the energy used to melt rocks and sand into new glass makes their products more attractive to consumers interested in green building and also reduces the cost of production. The savings from using recycled raw materials allows the company to produce sustainable products.

Gale explained to us how the company makes its decisions, from product design to distribution, according to their Environmental Management System. The EMS is designed to assist in achieving the goals outlined in their Environmental, Health, Safety, and Product Stewardship Policy. This collection of policies and procedures manages environmental performance and includes compliance, footprint reduction, and management systems. The system allows Owens Corning a framework for setting and reviewing environmental objectives to target and focus on environmental improvement programs, and it has now been implemented globally in all of their facilities. This holistic approach to sustainability allows the company to examine opportunities for recycling of materials, which includes products manufactured and sold by Owens Corning as well as the waste material generated from their manufacture.

Gale also informed us of the inclusion of wind power in Owens Corning’s manufacturing process. In November of 2017, Owens Corning announced their 100% Wind-Powered Electricity and Reduced Embodied Carbon commercial and residential insulation. Three types of commercial and residential insulation made by Owens Corning are now independently certified as made with renewable energy and are available for specification and purchase. These are the first ever products to have met the requirements of SCS Global Services’ (a global third-party environmental and sustainability certification) certification protocol. The electricity used to make them is 100% wind powered which allows for a reduced carbon footprint.

The certification followed power purchase agreements that Owens Corning signed in 2015. Gale told about how the agreements in 2016 enabled new wind capacity in Texas and Oklahoma. Together the farms can generate 1.1 million megawatt hours of electricity per year. “For every megawatt hour of renewable electricity generated, the company receives one Renewable Energy Credit (REC). It then applies the RECs toward the manufacture of more sustainable products.” Through these strategies, Owens Corning has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, and they continue to aggressively pursue their stated goal of a 50% reduction by 2020 over their 2010 baseline.

Inspiration

Gale informed us that the innovation in Product Stewardship came about because the company wanted to take responsibility for the social and environmental impact that happens at each stage of their product’s life cycle. Gale has been involved in sustainable product stewardship since she began with Owens Corning. She is excited to see green building becoming even more popular. Currently all “new and significantly modified existing products sold by Owens Corning undergo a comprehensive product stewardship review to ensure that they perform as claimed and are both safe and environmentally sound to make, use and dispose. Product stewardship became a mandatory element of Owens Corning Business Code of Conduct Policy in 2006 and Products sold by Owens Corning continue to undergo a comprehensive product stewardship review to ensure that they perform as claimed and are both safe and environmentally sound to make, use, and dispose.”

Gale explained that “there are competing forces. People think it costs too much, they don’t know enough about what to do. We have building science people, and that’s what they do. They go and work with builders, look at their plans, and give them their recommendations. Very often we can do it affordably and it doesn’t have to cost much more. The prevailing thought is that there are a lot more green builders especially in the commercial space.” Owens Corning’s certified insulation products, made with 100% wind energy, gives commercial architects, builders, and homeowners the option of lower-carbon products with which to build greener structures. The products will help architects design buildings with reduced life cycle impact and achieve the recognized goals of the Architecture 2030 Challenge and U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification.

Overall impact

Product Stewardship can be summarized as minimizing environmental impact of products in the marketplace. Gale explained to us how Owens Corning recognizes that their biggest impact comes from the products they sell and the way that they are used. Over the years they have manipulated products in order to improve the sustainability and have also pursued certifications to prove commitment to improvement for stakeholders. One example of commitment to their stakeholders is transparency. Owens Corning believes that transparency is important to customers and specifies information about their products. Owens Corning uses third-party organizations to test, assess and certify or describe product attributes in order for our customers and stakeholders to understand the environmental and human health impacts of their products. She also informed us about Owens Corning’s life cycle assessments. Many of the company’s core products allow improvements in processes to maximize their positive environmental impacts. Cradle-to-grave assessments examine all stages of a product’s life, starting with gathering raw material inputs, processing, manufacturing and product use and ending with proper disposal or recycling. Buyers want to know the full extent of a product's environmental impact and Owens Corning provides transparency into the impacts of a product at each stage of its life cycle has become critical in terms of purchases and specifications. Environmental Product Declarations, allow manufacturers to disclose the environmental impact of their products identified by the LCA in a credible, streamlined and universally understood manner.

Business benefit

In terms of financial impact, in 2016, 62% of new products and 75% of new applications for Owens Corning products had shown net sustainability gains and were most frequently caused by product developments. It is these developments that improved the manufacturing footprint: lower plant air emissions, lower material consumption, lower energy usage and higher process efficiencies. Owens Corning continues to “adopt new product designs that use fewer materials and result in less energy usage for the end user. Another frequent cause of gains in 2016 was moving to new product designs that use fewer materials and result in less energy usage for the end user.”

Social and environmental benefit

Gale was excited to share with us how in attempting to reduce waste, Owens Corning was able to create a fun, mind opening program known as Hose to Habitat. In partnership with 20 zoos across the country, tools and products used in manufacturing processes such as tubes, brushes, and fire hoses are repurposed after their useful life. Firehoses are woven together to make hammocks for chimpanzees and the other products are used as enrichment toys. While programs like this do not put huge dents in reducing waste metrics, their impact is tremendous. As Gale states, “those programs that don’t necessarily put a big dent in our numbers, but it is going to get people interested and it’s a fun thing, marketing tool. Helps people understand what we are trying to do here at Owens Corning and rather than throwing something away.” This program exemplifies Owens Corning’s commitment to waste reduction and working towards a positive environmental impact. If nothing else, programs like these can have a snowball effect in society, as zoo patrons notice repurposed products they may as well look for ways to minimize their waste.

Interview

Gale Tedhams, Director Sustainability, Product and Supply Chain Sustainability