Owens Corning’s Innovative Steps Towards a Sustainable Shingle Economy
Owens Corning is making strides towards its goal of creating a sustainable shingle economy and reducing landfill waste. The company has announced progress on two critical shingle recycling initiatives that are crucial to achieving its target of recycling two million tons of shingles annually in the U.S. by 2030.
Transforming Used Shingles into New Ones
In late 2022, Owens Corning, along with its partners, initiated a pilot project for asphalt shingle recycling. This project aims to dismantle residential and industrial waste shingles and recover their constituent materials. Within less than a year, the facility has successfully dismantled shingles and extracted asphalt, granules, and filler. The process is designed to recover the entire shingle to prevent any part of the product from being wasted.
The materials recovered through this process have shown encouraging initial results, meeting the company’s expectations. Owens Corning and its partners continue to refine and improve the pilot process to optimize the resulting components for various future uses.
Gunner Smith, President of Owens Corning Roofing, expressed optimism about the progress made at the pilot project. He stated that what began as a lab-scale shingle dismantling experiment has now been validated at a pilot scale. The next phase involves plant trials where the recovered materials will be used in developing new prototype shingles.
The company, along with its partners, plans to continue expanding the pilot facility to increase material output and evaluation. They are also developing various prototypes with recycled components for rigorous testing.
Transforming Used Shingles into Asphalt Pavement
Owens Corning remains dedicated to promoting the use of recycled shingles in asphalt paving applications. To further this cause, the company has collaborated with the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) to conduct research on using recycled shingles in pavement.
The collaboration with NCAT is assessing the performance of asphalt mixtures made with a balanced mix design using recycled asphalt shingles (RAS). It is also evaluating the environmental impact of RAS in paving applications and will provide full lifecycle assessment data on recycled asphalt shingles into pavement for the first time. This data will be used to develop industry-wide guidelines to educate asphalt contractors across the U.S.
“These studies are in progress now, and we believe the results will show a clear value proposition for hot mix asphalt contractors. With the right balanced mix design, the carbon footprint of asphalt paving mixture can be lowered while maintaining the performance of the road,” said Laurand Lewandowski, Director of Asphalt Innovation.
“Aligning ourselves with industry leaders who can have a positive influence on this initiative is a significant benefit toward advancing the use of recycled asphalt shingles across the country, and ultimately keeping shingles out of landfills.”
Transforming Used Shingles into New Ones
In late 2022, Owens Corning, along with its partners, initiated a pilot project for asphalt shingle recycling. This project aims to dismantle residential and industrial waste shingles and recover their constituent materials. Within less than a year, the facility has successfully dismantled shingles and extracted asphalt, granules, and filler. The process is designed to recover the entire shingle to prevent any part of the product from being wasted.
The materials recovered through this process have shown encouraging initial results, meeting the company’s expectations. Owens Corning and its partners continue to refine and improve the pilot process to optimize the resulting components for various future uses.
Gunner Smith, President of Owens Corning Roofing, expressed optimism about the progress made at the pilot project. He stated that what began as a lab-scale shingle dismantling experiment has now been validated at a pilot scale. The next phase involves plant trials where the recovered materials will be used in developing new prototype shingles.
The company, along with its partners, plans to continue expanding the pilot facility to increase material output and evaluation. They are also developing various prototypes with recycled components for rigorous testing.
Transforming Used Shingles into Asphalt Pavement
Owens Corning remains dedicated to promoting the use of recycled shingles in asphalt paving applications. To further this cause, the company has collaborated with the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) to conduct research on using recycled shingles in pavement.
The collaboration with NCAT is assessing the performance of asphalt mixtures made with a balanced mix design using recycled asphalt shingles (RAS). It is also evaluating the environmental impact of RAS in paving applications and will provide full lifecycle assessment data on recycled asphalt shingles into pavement for the first time. This data will be used to develop industry-wide guidelines to educate asphalt contractors across the U.S.
“These studies are in progress now, and we believe the results will show a clear value proposition for hot mix asphalt contractors. With the right balanced mix design, the carbon footprint of asphalt paving mixture can be lowered while maintaining the performance of the road,” said Laurand Lewandowski, Director of Asphalt Innovation.
“Aligning ourselves with industry leaders who can have a positive influence on this initiative is a significant benefit toward advancing the use of recycled asphalt shingles across the country, and ultimately keeping shingles out of landfills.”
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