Recycled Shingles Are A Commodity, Not A Waste

Expansion of shingle recycling is hindered by the reluctance of hot mix asphalt plant operators to pay the actual market value of recycled asphalt shingles, the reluctance of state highway departments to recognize existing technical evaluations and approvals of recycled asphalt shingles as an additive to asphalt pavement, and the inconsistent valuation of waste shingles in terms of greenhouse gas credits.

As part of its mandate, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is constantly advocating reuse of waste materials into beneficial uses. Old tires were a major problem until the EPA advanced the use of tires as fuel, which resulted in approximately 45% of tires diverted from landfills. Waste tires are highly visible as space-consuming and combustible waste. Over the years, this unsightliness, and several large tire fires, have turned it into a political problem that needed to be solved. Waste shingles are less visible and easier to just bury—out of sight, out of mind.

The EPA is a strong advocate for shingle recycling, sponsoring several initiatives such as the Shingle Recycling Forums and several university projects to evaluate the use of shingles in pavement. For the past 25 years, recycled asphalt shingles have proven to be a valuable additive to asphalt pavement. But valuation as an additive does not address the actual value as a commodity.

The standard benefits of recycling shingles are sited as: diversion from landfills, replacement of bitumen and sand in asphalt, and improved performance. But one of the most obvious benefits is still being missed. On average, asphalt shingles contain 25% by weight bitumen.  Bitumen is refined from a finite and expensive resource—oil. With 11 million tons of shingles discarded each year in landfills, this translates into 2,750,000 tons of bitumen buried each year in landfills.  Why is this valuable commodity still being treated as a waste?

While the value of waste shingles as an additive has been well established, a main deterrent to recycling waste shingles is the low value asphalt plant operators place on waste shingles as a commodity. There are approximately 3,900 hot mix plants in the U.S producing more than 500 million tons of asphalt per year. The common belief in this industry is that “waste has no intrinsic value.” This belief, based on “the way things have always been done,” helps to maintain an artificial low value for waste shingles as a commodity. When tipping fees are in the range of  $20 to $35 per ton, buyers of  waste shingles expect to pay only a small premium.

The real value of waste shingles should be based on the current price of asphalt bitumen. The average price per ton of bitumen has been $350 this year, with higher prices experienced during summer months. Based on the bitumen content of waste shingles at 25% per ton, a ton of waste shingles should be worth $100, not the current $20 to $30 now offered.

With oil maintaining a price over $70 a barrel and bitumen at $350 per ton, hot mix asphalt operators are currently using waste shingles as a significantly under-valued additive in a very competitive industry.

In 2009, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved specifications for processing and blending waste shingles in asphalt pavement.  The AASHTO approval is a very significant advancement for the goal of recycling waste shingles. Additionally, the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) has continually advocated for the recycling of waste shingles, both in C&D World and at its annual conference. CMRA remains the best source for information about recycling waste shingles. States such as Georgia, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin have been instrumental in developing specifications for the use of RAS.

However, many state and municipal officials still insist on carrying out their own tests, prior to approval, even though years of tests results, and the AASHTO specifications are available. This reluctance of state and municipal transportation officials to recognize the existing recycled shingle information creates unnecessary red tape. It causes unnecessarily delays in the approvals for use of waste shingles in asphalt. Recycling shingles has been practiced for more than 25 years.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) and the EPA and FHWA’s Green Highway Partnership (GHP) provide incentives, through greenhouse gas (GHG) emission credits. With the emphasis on “green’ roads today, these programs are good marketing tools for asphalt companies. However, at present, there are several inconsistent values for GHG credits for the use of waste shingles, and this is problematic. Which brings us back to the appropriate value of this waste as a commodity.

In order to capture this 2,750,000 tons of bitumen wasted in landfill sites each year, the following steps are suggested.

Hot mix asphalt companies must recognize the market value of waste shingles as a commodity based on its bitumen content, rather than based on the local tipping fees. Increasing the market value of waste shingles will definitely spur recycling companies to expand markets for waste shingles as a commodity.

Essentially, the specifications for use of waste shingles in asphalt highways have been established. Evaluating the usefulness of bitumen from waste shingles in asphalt does not need to be done on a state-by-state basis. Transportation officials contemplating uses of waste shingles in their asphalt highways should place their confidence in the work and results of their fellow highway officials who have already established standards for the use of waste shingles in highway construction. Expediting this approval process will help provide shingle recyclers with larger markets for their waste shingles.

Finally, the EPA should develop a simple model to calculate GHG credits for waste shingles, whether it is a unit value or formula. The current list of values is confusing and inhibits shingle recyclers from promoting the GHG credits from waste shingles.  Let’s keep the oil out of the ground.

Douglas Robinson is president of Second Earth Ltd., C&D Recycling and Disposal. He can be reached at his Stratford, PEI office, 902-569-4964 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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