Shingle Recycling – How We’re Stepping Up

Go  Green when you Go Home!

Shingle Recycling: The Movement

In the past few years, the home construction industry has made a concerted effort to thoroughly scrutinize the processes and practices that cause pollution. The push many companies are making is toward eco-friendly standards in the production and recycling of materials such as asphalt shingles. This type of roofing material is at the forefront of the movement.

Why Care?

For conscientious building owners, seeking out the latest methods of ensuring their home is more environmentally friendly is a top priority. Oftentimes, such methods lead to a more efficient building, meaning building owners incur fewer costs in the long run. It’s no secret that most aspects of construction and our homes negatively affect our environment, but what’s rarely known is just how many opportunities we have to mitigate some of the harmful effects, and even save money doing so. In particular, your asphalt roof is an area that often causes a substantial environmental impact. From the oil needed for the manufacturing of asphalt, to low energy efficiency during its short service life, asphalt roofs are without question worse for the environment than most other materials.

What We’re Doing

At Van Martin, we are helping to lead the charge by adapting our practices to incorporate recycled materials and recycle old shingles when replacing a roof whenever we can. Currently, the 10 million tons of asphalt shingles that are removed from roofs across the US every year, account for about 5 % of total construction-related waste.

The Benefits

Shingle recycling isn’t just about doing the right thing. It has great utility, too. Here’s how the practice of shingle recycling has a positive impact on our world:

-Conserve resources and energy that are used when dumping asphalt shingles at landfills.
-Lower waste at landfills.
-Reduce emissions from greenhouse gasses
-Dramatically decrease the required amount of oil for the manufacturing of asphalt, thereby reducing our nation’s dependency on foreign oil.
-Decrease the amount spent on new asphalt.

Moreover, asphalt shingles that have been recycled have various additional applications, including hot mix asphalt, cold patch, rural roads, new roofing shingles, dust control, and more.

Want to know more about what we do? Here’s a page that details how we ensure our asphalt roofing practices are up to speed with our Go Green movement. For more information, give us a call at (937) 222-7855.