A few weeks ago, I published a blog post on the roof being updated on my energy efficient home renovation. The post detailed why I chose metal for the roofing, one of the reasons being that metal roofs contain recycled materials while shingle roofs contain toxic materials that go into landfills.
Thanks to a comment from reader Jimbob, I found out that I was misinformed. His comment said, “All asphalt roofing shingles are, and have been for quite some time, 100% recycled. When we replace a roof and complete a home renovation, we utilize two separate dumpsters, one for shingle and all roofing debris, and another one for all other waste destined for the landfill.”
After a little research, I discovered a ton of resources on recycling shingles. ShingleRecycling.org offers information on shingle recycling as well as a “find a recycler” function. Owens Corning asks roofers to take a shingle recycling pledge. I even found a “how to” video on YouTube! And that’s not to mention the information on how asphalt shingles play a role in sustainable building I found on AsphaltRoofing.org and how recycled shingles go into paving on the EPA’s website. However, I did also find that although recycling shingles is possible, it is not fully adopted by the building industry and many shingles still end up in the landfill.
Now were I to undertake another energy efficient home renovation, would I change my mind on using metal roofing? No – I still love metal roofing for all the reasons I named in the original post. But I can say I’m glad to have readers that help educate me. And I’m glad to have this new-to-me information in my arsenal for the future.
Image: AsphaltRoofing.org
