Did you know that the roof over your head might someday be the road under your wheels?
Recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) are often used in pavement asphalt, which is both environmentally and economically friendly.
From Waste to Saved
Asphalt shingle recycling is not a simple process. Since improving the environment is one of the main goals, recyclers must be aware of the environmental considerations. For example, it’s important to keep the recycling dust to a minimum and to prevent other undesirable materials from being mixed in. Local, state, and federal regulations often focus on the possibility that asbestos could be present, but this is typically not found in the shingles themselves, but in other roofing products, such as roll roofing, adhesives, paints, or waterproofing compounds. Therefore, recyclers have to be aware of, and protect against, asbestos contamination when dealing with roofing shingles.
Nonetheless, the advantages of recycling outweigh these considerations. After all, 11 million or more of asphalt shingle waste is produced in the U.S. each year! If one ton of asphalt shingles recycled equals about one barrel of oil, the environmental and economic benefits speak for themselves. If all 11 million tons of waste could be recycled, it would save 11 million barrels of oil from being used to create new asphalt.
From Roofing to Paving
So what do shingles have to do with paving? Asphalt shingle recycling allows the old materials to be repurposed for use in pavement through sorting, heating, grinding, and remixing. The bonus is that aggregate pavements made with recycled shingles are often more durable than new pavements (thanks to the added mineral fillers and organic fibers)!
Wolf Paving cares about recycling asphalt because we care about the environment and doing the right thing. If you need a paving job done right, contact us for a quote. You’ll never know if the material on your driveway is from a roof or another road, but you’ll know we incorporated as much recycled material as possible!
