Producer Responsibility

I have been among those who have written about so-called “Green Building Products,” and still remain amazed when wandering about an event such as Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council’s convention where all of the manufacturers of these green products show their wares, that many of these products are made from recycled materials, especially plastics and wood, but will be headed to the landfill when their life is over (and that includes any scraps left over from the construction process) because no one can recycle it again seems to be mind boggling to consider them environmentally friendly.

(To view the figures and additional pictures in this article, you must read it in our online magazine.)

But spin is everything, I guess. And I have yet to see many of those producers very interested in the end-of-life scenarios for their products, or even to talk about that. But one building material that deserves designation as a green product is asphalt shingles, for a couple of reasons. It may be surprising that an oil-based product would get that designation, but look at some facts. The product contains valuable materials, including bitumen and a cubical shaped aggregate. Shingles can be economically used again in a variety of applications, from back into the shingle making process to asphalt hot mix to dust control on gravel roads. In these pages we have provided several articles on how to do all this, and the CMRA continues to organize the Shingle Recycling Forum every two years.

But another thing shingle recycling has going for it are those supporting the effort. While the CMRA organizes the forum, co-sponsors not including government agencies such as the FHWA and the EPA, but also the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA), the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), and Owens-Corning, the big roofing manufacturer. In other words, the industry that produces and uses the shingle is right there backing an environmentally friendly end-of-life alternative. Talk about producer responsibility. These organizations are to be commended, as well as the industry they represent, for not just giving lip service to taking care of where their end product is going, but actively supporting and helping the effort. For example, Owens-Corning has designated an employee, Dave Trumbore, to support shingle recycling, and Dave also serves ARMA to promote the activity. Dave also served on the steering committee for the 4th Shingle Recycling Forum.

Some other building material industries claim to support recycling and other environmentally acceptable alternatives for their products, but much of that is meant to appease the green building marketplace, which doesn’t know any better. Put up a nice big booth at Greenbuild, and they will all think you have a green product. But that’s not what the asphalt shingle industry is doing. They are to be commended and congratulated for showing the way on how to support true producer responsibility without any government intervention.

William Turley
C&D World Associate Publisher & Editor
CMRA Executive Director
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