Over the years, due to the massive amounts of waste produced, especially in the industrial sector, the availability of landfills has decreased, and their usage costs have increased.

If we consider the roofing industry, we produce millions of tonnes of asphalt shingles, wood, and cedar shake waste every year. Disposing of the debris has not only become expensive but is also highly damaging to the environment.

Moreover, Asphalt shingles take up to 300 years to decompose fully. Considering the massive volume of asphalt shingle waste produced every year, recycling the waste is the most sustainable and economical way to deal with this issue.

In this blog, we talk about the process of recycling Asphalt shingles and how it helps the environment and the industry.

Use Of Recycled Asphalt Shingles

Asphalt shingle scrap and recycled Asphalt shingles can be used for a variety of products. These include:

• Fuel oil
• New roofing
• Road Cover
• Ground Cover
• Pothole patch
• Asphalt pavement
• Aggregate base and sub-base
• Utility cuts
• Ramps
• Bridges
• Parking lots

Shingle Composition

Asphalt shingles have four main components:

• Asphalt cement
• Mineral filler (Stabilizer)
• Mineral granules
• Fibreglass or Felt backing

An Asphalt shingle is basically a fibreglass or felt mat that is saturated with small rock granules called Asphalt cement. The organic Asphalt shingles contain 30 to 36 percent asphalt, while the fiberglass shingles contain 19 to 22 percent asphalt.

Some common stabilizers include limestone, silica, or dolomite that constitutes 8 to 40 percent of the shingle. Mineral granules are sand-sized ceramic-coated natural rocks that make 20 to 38 percent of the structure.

The felt mat is the backing used to keep all the components together. Typically, two types of mats are used:

• Organic felt made using paper
• Fiberglass felt

Recycling Process

The Asphalt recycling process involves grinding the shingles to a smaller size to repurpose them for hot-mix asphalt (HMA) or cold patch to fill cracks and potholes on roads.

However, before breaking the Asphalt down, the shingles are sorted to remove extraneous materials. The grinding process is carried out according to state and local regulations. If the shingles are being recycled for a private project, they are broken down according to the contractor’s specifications.

Depending on their intended post-recycling purpose, the shingles are ground into 0.25 to 2-inch pieces. If the recycled material is to be used for base stabilization, it will be larger in size. On the other hand, the size is kept between 0.25 to 0.5 inches for the Asphalt surface course.

The recycled shingles are not used on their own. They are typically mixed with softer asphalts to offset the hardness of the asphalt shingles. On average, HMA can be composed of up to five percent recycled shingles by weight.

The roof Asphalt shingles use air-blown cement, which is usually harder than the standard asphalt binder, so the recycled shingles are mixed with PG58-28 versus a PG64-22 Asphalt.

Recycling Is Eco-Friendly And Cost-Effective

Recycling Asphalt shingles helps you save a lot of time and money. The process is significantly cheaper and faster and prevents companies from dumping tons of waste into environmentally unfriendly landfills.

Moreover, in the long run, recycling helps to reduce the costs of material costs since the industry will use fewer virgin resources.

Most Asphalt shingle recycling companies have a zero-waste policy which means no by-products of the process ends up in the landfills.

About AKRoN Roofing

At AKRoN roofing, we believe in recycling as much waste product as possible, instead of dumping it in a landfill.

AKRoN Roofing offers cost-effective and resilient roofing solutions in Calgary. We provide a wide range of the best roofing materials in the market and hold the highest installation standards for all roofs. AKRoN Roofing is a proud member of the Alberta Allied Roofing Association.

We offer various products for sloped roof replacements with a Class 4 rating from UL, including SBS modified architectural shingles, Euroshield recycled rubber shingles, and F-wave Synthetic shingles. Our other services include, but are not limited to, residential re-roofing with asphalt shingles, TPO membranes for flat roofing, roof repairs, and inspections of all types of roofing material by our qualified team.

AKRoN Roofing is proud of its A+ rating with BBB plus other certifications and accreditations. You can check out our accreditations and certifications here. Contact us here for more information.