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Sarnafil Roof Recycling Program
Recycling reduces the environmental impacts of producing new materials
at the beginning of the lifecycle and the burden on landfills at the end.
The feasibility and technical capability of recycling vinyl is well
established. More than 905 million pounds of post industrial vinyl and 18 million pounds of post
consumer vinyl were recycled in 1997.
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For example, when renowned artist, Christo, and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, designed The Gates© Central Park exhibit, they required that all materials be recycled at the end of the project. They chose vinyl due to its low impact on the Park, as well as its recyclability. The frames of the display were ground into 750,000 pounds of flake. Most of the regrind was sold to Plastival, Inc. to be recycled into vinyl fencing and decking. In addition, the Vinyl Institute purchased some of the regrind to create architectural scales to help demonstrate to builders, architects and
specifiers alike that our products are easily recyclable.
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In
the commercial, low slope roofing market, vinyl is the only material with an established recycling system
in place. European roofing manufacturers have been recycling PVC roof membranes at the end of their
service life for well over a decade now. Roofcollect®, the European collecting and recycling system,
collected more than 1.3 million pounds of post consumer vinyl in 2005. The collected material is processed
and made available to manufacturers for incorporation into new vinyl roofing and waterproofing membranes.
At Sika Sarnafil, more than 98% of all vinyl raw
materials are converted into roofing and waterproofing membranes.
But what about the disposal of old vinyl roofs at the
end of their life cycle?
Post consumer recycling, the recycling of roof membranes at the end
of their useful life, is an opportunity to divert construction debris from the waste stream. The
technology exists to recycle the material but historically the lack of a need in the market has prevented
the establishment of a viable infrastructure to allow recycling. The sustainability movement along with
the advent of landfill restrictions on construction waste in cities such as Chicago and Boston and the
increase in waste disposal fees has begun to create the conditions to make recycling old roofs a reality.
Sika Sarnafil Recycling Projects
Marriott Long Wharf
Carver
Hawkeye Arena
Boston, MA Iowa
City, IA
Winner of the 2005 Project of the The
2007 Sika Sarnafil Sustainable Roofing Performance
Year award, the Marriott Long Wharf
Award winner, Carver Hawkeye
Arena's exsisting 25 year
recycled 95% of all roof materials. old
Sarnafil roof was recycled into new Sika Sarnafil products.
Vinyl Recycling Process
The recycling of vinyl roofs starts with the removal of the old membrane
from the facility. The membrane is then packaged and consolidated and shipped to a facility where
it is processed into a form that can be reintroduced into the new product manufacturing stream. Vinyl
is an excellent candidate for recycling because the old roofing material is easily introduced into the
raw material base for the manufacturing of new roofing membranes and accessories.
Sika Sarnafil has invested in state-of-the-art processing equipment
that enables large scale recycling of post consumer vinyl roofs back into roofing products. These
products include walkway pads, protection membranes and roofing and waterproofing membranes.
Interested in recycling your old vinyl roof? Click here
to request a Free Roof Evaluation.
   
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Dan Road | Canton, MA 02021 | 800-451-2504 |
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