Angie’s List: Recycling Roofing Shingles – MyWabashValley

In 2015 alone, two million tons of recycled asphalt shingles went into new pavement around the country, which saved taxpayers 2.6 billion dollars. In this Angie's List report, an industry that salvages shingles to put them into our roadways.

Asphalt shingles are the number one roofing material in the country, but what happens to them when they're replaced?

According to Angie's List founder, Angie Hicks, "Eighty percent of U.S. homes have asphalt shingles on their roof, so keeping these shingles out of landfills is a big win for the environment."

Across the nation, companies like Indiana Shingle Recycling receive loads of old shingles from roofers and contractors.

Liesel Ray, Co-Owner of Indiana Shingle Recycling says, "They unload it here and then we have hands-on guys that get in there and physically have to go through and basically pull the trash out of it."

Bone Dry Roofing, which serves 10 Midwest markets, drops off daily at an average of 85-dollars per truckload.

"So the majority of the material we tear off of roofs actually goes into the shingle recycling program. We've been recognized by our manufacturer as one of the top recycling contractors in the United States." Judd Haag, General Manager of Bone Dry Roofing.

Shingles go into a massive shredder to create what asphalt companies use in their pavement mix.

"It basically grinds it up and pulverizes it into a consistency kind of in between a pea gravel and a coffee ground." says Ray.

When one mountain of shingles goes through the shredder, another takes its place.

"As you can see behind me, if this was sitting in the landfill, it's basically going to sit there forever. By us taking it and recycling it, it's put back into the roads so everyone's basically driving on recycled material." says Ray.

Angie says to ask potential roofers if they recycle old shingles. Because most consider it the new standard, if one tells you they don't do it, consider one that does.

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Angie's List: Recycling Roofing Shingles - MyWabashValley