Saint-Gobain Canada Launches Gypsum Recycling Project in Quebec with Annual Processing Capacity of Up to 80,000 Tonnes

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Saint-Gobain Canada, through its CertainTeed Canada subsidiary, has launched the CertainTeed Recycle gypsum recycling program in Quebec. The gypsum board plant located in Sainte-Catherine on Montreal's South Shore has received approval from Quebec's Ministry of the Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks to accept clean waste gypsum and reuse it in gypsum board production. Once the project reaches mature operation, its annual recycling processing capacity will reach up to 80,000 tonnes.

The project is being implemented by CertainTeed Canada in partnership with New West Gypsum Recycling, which is responsible for operating the gypsum recycling line within the Sainte-Catherine plant. The recycled material primarily consists of clean gypsum waste generated from construction, renovation and demolition activities, which after sorting and processing re-enters the gypsum board raw material system to replace a portion of virgin gypsum.

The first batch of the recycling network has been connected to the construction end. CertainTeed has partnered with Canadian general contractor Pomerleau to recycle waste gypsum from its construction sites, while also deploying dedicated collection bins at selected building materials distribution points on Montreal's South Shore. The first collection points include Manugypse in Boucherville, Proulx in Châteauguay and Pont Masson in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, where construction companies can deliver clean gypsum waste that meets the requirements.

Quebec currently sends approximately 250,000 tonnes of gypsum waste to landfill each year. At the project's full processing capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year, the Sainte-Catherine recycling system can cover a significant portion of the existing gypsum waste stream in the region. The recycled gypsum re-enters wallboard production without altering the performance of the finished gypsum board.

The Sainte-Catherine plant had previously completed a large-scale electrification and capacity upgrade. Saint-Gobain completed the plant's conversion in September 2025, enabling it to operate entirely on renewable electricity; after the upgrade, the plant's energy consumption decreased by up to 30%, gypsum board production capacity increased by up to 40%, and carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by approximately 44,000 tonnes per year. The new gypsum recycling line will be directly integrated into this gypsum board manufacturing system.

Saint-Gobain and New West Gypsum Recycling had previously established a similar recycling system in Vancouver, Canada, where more than 1 million tonnes of waste gypsum had been reintroduced into gypsum board production cumulatively as of 2023. The Quebec project follows this partnership model, integrating recycling, transportation, processing and remanufacturing into the existing production facilities at Sainte-Catherine.