Freudenberg Politex

"We strongly believe that our long term business orientation is a major strength that benefits our customers and partners". In order to maintain this long term business orientation we must anticipate the needs of our customers and markets. It is through this vision that Freudenberg Politex continues to offer new products to our valued customers. This is not by chance, but part of our Guiding Principles that rule the Group's activities.

In a period when everyone speaks about crisis and the construction industry in particular, Freudenberg Politex trusts more than ever in this market, in the recovery of the market, and the importance of research, communication strategy and in sustainable development.

Translated this means for the Group to invest in innovation of processes and products, to strengthen communications with the market and the customers, to anticipate needs, without forgetting to protect the environment.

Autumn at Freudenberg Politex brings a breath of fresh news!

Three new Building Materials:

GlassPAR Floor: Fiberglass net alkali-resistant for floor reinforcement

Ecozero FV: Ecological thermo-acoustic insulating panel with vapour control layer

PhonoPAR Reflex: Anti-footsteps mat with reflecting film

are going to be launched at the exhibitions SAIE in Bologna and EXPOEDILIZIA in Rome. The international presence of the Group continues with the presence at the exhibition RUSSIA UNITED in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia.
The wish to communicate vis-à-vis with the core members of the construction sector will go ahead in 2010, starting with our presence at the international building exhibition MADE EXPO in Milan.

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Novedrate, October 2009

The environmental performances of Ecozero^® panels for thermal and acoustic insulation of walls and rooftops, manufactured with polyester fibres produced from recycled PET bottles, have been certified with the EPD^® logo of the Environmental Product Declaration.

The Freudenberg Politex Group is well-know not only as a world leader in the marketing of reinforcements for bituminous roofing membranes, but also because it is the major manufacturer of polyester recycled from post consumer PET bottles in Europe. And right the recycled polyester fibres are used to manufacture Ecozero^® panels, which are used in the construction industry for thermal and acoustic insulation of walls and roofs.

Recycled materials and efficient thermal insulation of buildings are key factors that contribute to energy savings and to the reduction of natural resources consumption. For Freudenberg Politex it is not enough to know that its products and processes bring benefits to the environment. The questions are: how can we share this information and document our contribution to environmental protection and natural resources conservation? How can we further improve?

From these questions the project "Green Communication" arose, beginning with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the product Ecozero^®, which was analysed by the Department of Environmental Engineering and Physics (DIFA) of the University of Basilicata.

The LCA study measures the environmental impacts that a product has during its life cycle. For each production step, data concerning the consumption of resources and the waste generated from the manufacturing process are documented and assessed, following international rules recognised by the ISO system. This method can ensure objective, homogeneous and comparable data.

With the aim to confirm the objectivity and the international value of data resulted from the LCA study, Freudenberg Politex decided to go on with the validation of the Environmental Product Declaration: the EPD^® is a document certified by a independent technical organization according to the international protocol EPD^®. The Declaration represents the results of the LCA study and the steps that led to determine the environmental profile of the product.

The validation of the LCA study and the EPD^® allow Freudenberg Politex to absolutely affirm that its processes and products are sustainable thanks to the limited environmental impact. For example the use of recycled polyester manufactured in its plants instead of virgin raw material for the production of Ecozero^® implies a reduction of CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere of 50%. In addition to this saving, environmental benefits arise also when using Ecozero^® in buildings thanks to the effective performances of thermal insulation.

The decision of the Group in favour of clean technologies is also confirmed by the recent start up of a cogeneration plant in Novedrate where the internal production of electric and thermal energy allows a further reduction of CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere of about 14.000 tons per year.

Download the Environmental Product Declaration^®
More info about Ecozero^®

Novedrate, June 2009

Freudenberg Politex is pleased to present the new advertising campaign recently realized for the product Ecozero.
After years of increasing success, Ecozero is the symbol of the Group's innovative spirit and capacity to anticipate future concepts through constant attention to global market needs. Today more than ever the panels manufactured with polyester made from recycled PET bottles represent a perfect solution to the needs for energy efficient buildings and environmental protection.

Campaign Ecozero 2009

Novedrate, May 2009

The range of Freudenberg Politex Building Materials is in continuous growth, thanks to diligent research and constant attention to the needs of customers:

is the new solution for the reinforcement of road surfaces.

It is a fiberglass net impregnated with bitumen, available in different versions of weight and mesh dimension, and represents the optimal solution to satisfy the different needs of roadway capacity and of thermic variations. To improve the adherence to the different layers of the road surface, GlassPAR Road nets have an acrylic adhesive on one side. The high tensile strength and the high elastic modulus with reduced elongations are the strengths of GlassPAR Road; this new product is very practical and easy to lay.

Further information is available from Customer Service.

April 2009

On February 24th Freudenberg Texbond LP received the "Award of Excellence" from the Georgia Department of Labor, in recognition of "Exceptional Workforce Safety in 2008".

Richard Shaw, CEO and Business Director North America, expresses his satisfaction: "This award confirms our highest commitment in matters of safety. Like all the other companies in the Freudenberg Group, we adopted global standards developed internally, which have helped us to achieve ambitious targets. Apart from the technical safety measures, we have turned to all employees in an effort to make them more aware of safety at the workplace. The "zero accidents" program was launched in 2006 under the motto: Zero Accidents. It's not about numbers, it's about people."

According to Carl Walden, HSE Manager, Freudenberg Texbond LP established a new record low for OSHA Recordable Accidents in 2008 and in fact ended the year with 9 consecutive months of accident free operations.

The Occupational Health and Safety Management System of Freudenberg Texbond is certified BSI-OHSAS 18001.

Freudenberg Texbond LP is based in Macon, Georgia, and belongs to the Freudenberg Politex Group, world market leader in the production of polyester reinforcements for bituminous roofing membranes.

Novedrate, March 2009

A cogeneration plant started up in Novedrate headquarters

Freudenberg Politex is pleased to announce the recent start up of a cogeneration plant in Novedrate for the internal production of thermal and electric energy.

Dr. Riccardo Sollini, President & CEO of the Group, explains that "the cost of utilities has risen constantly over the years and environmental protection has assumed a much more strategic importance for industries. This is why the decision was made to install a cogeneration plant in Italy, where the cost of energy particularly affects our business".

The cogeneration plant produces 5 MW of electric power and also satisfies the needs for thermal energy of the entire site with around 4 MW. The recovery of thermal energy, in its noble and less noble state, allows for a 75% exploitation of the cogeneration plant. This efficiency ratio is very high, especially when compared to the average efficiency of traditional electric plants which usually do not exceed 55%.

Thanks to the high efficiency, the cogeneration plant allows considerable savings on combustion, with the consequent drop of emissions into the atmosphere by approximately 45% in comparison with traditional sources. The environmental benefit estimated is a reduction of CO2 emissions of around 14.000 tons per year.

The reduction of the environmental impact of the site at Novedrate makes it eligible for white certificates of energy efficiency. This is in addition to the recycling activities of the Group, which for more than ten years has been producing polyester internally from PET post consumer bottles, thus allowing a significant reduction of CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle of its finished products.

Novedrate, February 2009