Did you know that asphalt pavement is America's most recycled material? Each year roughly 100 million tons of asphalt pavement material is reclaimed. Of that 100 million tons, about 95-percent of that is reused in roads and highways, saving taxpayers money by reducing the cost of roads.
Recycling once was uncommon in the roofing industry. Now it is increasing as an ecofriendly and economically wise method to dispose of and reuse material from old concrete and asphalt-shingled roofs.
Traditionally, the industry's "green practice" involved overlaying an existing roof with another layer of shingles, but this method only delayed the inevitable disposal. These days, many roofing professionals have shingle material ground up for reuse rather than sending it to landfills. This material can be used to improve the quality of roadway pavement.
People don't often think of paving as being environmentally friendly, much less “green,” but here at Wolf Paving, we take recycling seriously. In recent years, there have been significant advances in the field of construction material recycling, especially when it comes time to tear out and replace existing construction.
In fact, folks often ask us whether we engage in asphalt and concrete recycling, and we're proud to say that we recycle 100% of the asphalt we remove from construction sites. Asphalt is almost endlessly reusable – over 90 million tons are reused every year. Plus, by recycling waste materials we're already digging up, you and we both see a three-way benefit!
Wolf Paving is proud of the asphalt recycling we do. We recycle 100% of the asphalt we remove from job sites, plus we accept recyclable material from other contractors. But asphalt isn’t the only building and paving material that can be recycled. Another material we focus on is concrete recycling and reuse.
There was a time when the majority of used concrete was sent to a landfill. Not only does it take up a large amount of landfill space, which is increasingly at a premium, but it costs money (as much as $0.25 per ton per mile) and resources to transport it and/or dispose of it (as high as $100 per ton). Then more money and resources go toward creating all-new concrete. These days, about 100 million tons of concrete is recycled annually.
