As the roofing industry has been advancing in their material science there are still millions and millions of tons of installed asphalt-based roofing systems that will need to be replaced within the next 40 years with no current means of recycling or reusing the torn off systems. A solid solution to reducing this waste by over 500% is to extend the life of your current roofing system with a coating.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are as much as 500 million tons of construction waste produced each year, with 50-70% of the non-roofing materials recovered depending on the location. Asphalt based roofing is one of the materials disposed of in the highest amounts in United States landfills. Roofing often makes up around 20% of this number and is found in higher percentages because there are so few options for responsible recycling and re-use.
An even more frightening fact is that these statistics do not include the story of pre-consumer waste streams which include mistakes in manufacturing and additional waste factors ordered by contractors - both of which typically find their way to landfill. If manufacturers have a waste factor of 6-10% of materials produced not meet specifications and contractors order 12-15% waste to ensure extra for installation mistakes and overages, the total waste percentage in select cases can rise up to as much as 45%.
The problem is also compounding. State and local municipal solid waste sites are starting to ban the dumping of construction and demolition waste, specifically asphalt-based products, in their landfills.
Currently, there are bans in DC, Massachusetts, Vermont and West Virginia and there is an escalation of tipping fees in Michigan, Rhode Island, and Iowa as a deterrent to wanting to do so. There are plans for Seattle, LA, NY, and other cities to stop sending any trash to landfills leaving contractors with little to no cost-effective solutions.
How do we solve this issue? Roof restorations and coatings, like IntelliGuard™. Learn more about what some of our authorized contractors are doing to help preserve our planet for future generations.
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