by Sally Cummings

Sally has researched how many things that are thrown into the trash, that end up in the landfill, can actually be sold and recycled into useful products.

Here is one such example:

Approximately 11 million tons of waste asphalt roofing shingles are generated in the U.S. per year. Re-roofing jobs account for 10 million tons, with another 1 million from manufacturing scrap.

Shingles Removed from roofs

As landfill availability decreases and tipping fees increase, solid waste generators are becoming more interested in finding alternative ways of managing shingle waste, recycling of asphalt roofing shingles, or “composition shingles” .

Asphalt shingle scrap can be used in a variety of products, including:

• Asphalt pavement,

• Aggregate base and subbase,

• Cold patch for potholes, sidewalks, utility cuts, driveways, ramps, bridges, and parking lots,

• Pothole patch,

• Road and ground cover,

• New roofing, and

• Fuel oil

It makes good sense to eliminate shingles from the waste stream by either selling the product to businesses that will grind them up and prepare them for further use or the City can grind them and sell the product for manufacturing into other products.

Published in the Oct/Nov 2007 Save the Pine Bush newsletter