Roofing Products Recycling

About Roofing Products Recycling

The practice of recycling is somewhat obvious from its name. Generally, recycling is:
- Re-using a material after its initial service life ends by reprocessing into a new product
- Re-using edge trim during manufacture and adding to virgin material. This re- use of edge trim and other scrap during manufacture results in the reduction of virgin materials use and the reuse of waste materials instead of going to and fills.

Common organic roofing materials that can be easily recycled are wood fiberboard insulation and perlite insulation.

The Biggest downside to recycling is the economics - it can be costly and there are
no centralized recycling centers.

Characteristics of Recyclable Materials

- Ability to be easily re-introduced and processed into a new product
- Easily separated from other additives and ingredients
- Easier to accomplish with thermoplastic materials or organic materials.

Why?

Because thermoplastic materials are not molecularly cross-linked allowing them to be reformed with the introduction of heat and pressure. Thermoset materials, by contrast, cannot be easily re-used once their molecules have cross-linked. That means that thermoset materials must be ground up into small particles and dispersed in a polymeric matrix to be recycled.

What is a Thermoplastic Material?

It is a material that does not undergo a molecular cross-linking and remains in a state that allows it to be fused and formed into alternative shapes and forms through the application of heat
and pressure.

Examples of common thermoplastic roofing materials are:
- TPO n PVC n EPS
- XPS n Uncured EPDM n Asphalt

Thermoset materials go through a process that results in cross-linking of molecules (also called “curing” or “vulcanization”) that permanently sets the physical properties in the material.
Examples of common thermoset roofing materials include EPDM and polyisocyanurate insulation.