What is so bad about plasterboard?

My local waste site is strict about plaster not going in with hard core but they have a separate giant skip for plaster board and plaster.

Might be an entirely separate issue, but a lot of plasterboard is or was given an Artex treatment, which for quite a number of years contained asbestos.

It has nothing to do with asbestos.

It's a recyle issue. Even new builds have a plasterboard only skip.

Wasn't there a new (EU ??) rule a while ago about not being allowed to put gypsum into landfill.

And where do we get gypsum from?? Oh yes, out of the ground!

These days yes. Used to be the end product of coal power station sulfur scrubbers.

It's because high sulphate material mixed with organic matter in landfills can produce hydrogen sulphide gas. Previously up to 10% sulphate material was allowed, new guidance says it isn't allowed at all.

Our local tip has started charging £3 per sheet (or per 20kg) to dispose of plasterboard separately.

The owner of a "grabber" wagon would not take plasterboard mixed with rubble on a house renovation I worked on. He said that if it goes into landfill it produces hydrogen sulphate gas. There was no way that he was taking it and turned a bit nasty.

Same as coal and asbestos

On Sun, 12 Jun 2016 16:45:35 +0100, Andy Burns wro= te:

Then don't tell them you have plasterboard. Just throw it in the genera= l waste skip. If they want it separated, they can do so, but not at my = expense. In fact I just cut mine up and shoved it in the green (waste) = bin over about 5 collections, they never complained (even though it was = obvious as the bin was extremely heavy).

-- =

Q: If you have a mothball in one hand and another mothball in the other = hand, what would you have? A: The undivided attention of a very large moth!

Another reason to vote leave. WTF has it to do with Europe what WE do with OUR landfills?

That's the same reason I use to scoff at the greenies saying we shouldn't burn oil and coal. It was created by rotting vegetation and animals, so used to be in the bloody air where we're putting it!

We should be using wood. Plasterboard makes a right mess. Whoever thought making walls out of powder was a good thing?

AIUI, not any more. There was a time when all gypsum was mined. A lot came from northern France, hence 'Plaster of Paris', and Belgium. But these days most gypsum used in plasterboard is the end product of flue gas desulphurisation on coal-fired power stations. The flue gas is passed up a tower down which is sprayed a suspension of hydrated lime, and the result is calcium sulphite, which is then oxidised to calcium sulphate, gypsum, and sold to the plaster-board industry. According to this BGS report, mined gypsum these days is used in building plasters and for making plaster moulds in the tableware and sanitaryware industries. The cement industry uses a bit.

Whether that has anything to do with the treatment of plasterboard at recycling centres, I've no idea, but one might speculate that the lime scrubber picks up more than just SO2.

With the run-down of coal-fired power stations throughout Europe (Germany excepted, at least for the moment), I guess there'll be a shortage of FGD gypsum, so perhaps it's time to invest in gypsum mining companies! I'm assuming that CCGTs don't produce enough SO2 to warrant FGD.

Yup that is the problem. Plaster board itself is fine, but once buried in mixed landfill, it can start gassing - and hydrogen sulphide is dangerous stuff:

Many skip companies will still take it, but ask you to place it on top where its easier for them to separate it out.

Lots of modern builders have taken to entombing the off cuts into the stud walls of new builds to save having to dispose of the scraps into skips etc.

Why should it not be at your expense? (having said that - it will be at your expense whether you like it or not).

If people don't follow the disposal guidelines, then it becomes more expensive for the skip companies to process, so the cost of skips goes up. If people are inconsiderate and make it too difficult for them to process, then they will simply stop accepting it.

Was this through ignorance, or just wilful stupidity?

My tip has a separate (free) skip although I must admit that the last lot I dumped was in mixed bags of waste, which I didn't segregate. (Someone else bagged them).

I'd assumed they'd end up recycling it for the gypsum, as we close even the coal stations with FGD.

Lovely. You sure have got one over on them eh.

No, *they* want it separated for *you* and *your family* and if it's

Even better, contaminate the green waste as well.

I hope you get it all back when you buy a bag of compost. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Then don't set fire to your wall.

eral waste skip.

Yes, I didn't pay them.

It's not for me. It's for the landfill site, which isn't mine.

r about 5 collections, they never complained (even though it was obvious= as the bin was extremely heavy).

The green bin is not for green waste, it's for landfill, which is where = plasterboard is supposed to go as it doesn't have a seperate recycling o= ption. Green waste goes in the brown bin here. Different councils use = different coloured bins.

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How does a man know when his wife is losing interest? When her favorite sexual position is next door.