Recycled roof refuse is finding its way onto Wisconsin's roads.
"For lack of any other term, we're trash miners," said Dean Grimes, general manager of Forward Vision Environmental. "We've seen too much stuff go into landfills. Since we've been open, we rescued over 2 million pounds of shingles in the Green Bay location alone."
Recycling roof shingles is not a new concept, but Forward Vision Environmental is the only business in the Green Bay area that does it, officials there said. Similar services are offered by Murphy Concrete and Construction in Appleton, and the idea is catching on.
"It is becoming more of a common practice," Grimes said. "There are roofers telling other roofers to come here, and a lot of them sell themselves as green businesses. It's a huge selling point for them."
Old shingles come from residential and business construction sites. When the shingles make it to Forward Vision Environmental, materials such as nails and plastic wrapping are removed, and the shingles are tested for asbestos and sent to Northeast Asphalt Inc., an asphalt production and construction services company, to be ground up and prepared for asphalt mix.
"Once that happens, our partner company, Green 46 recycling in Kenosha, comes up with their grinder and grinds it down so Northeast Asphalt can put it into a hot patch mix and put it to use," Grimes said. "We like to brag, from rooftop to road top."
Northeast Asphalt Inc. has been recycling roof shingles for two years and sees the practice of recycling becoming more prevalent as its economic viability increases.
"The demand will be there," said Eric Olson, area operations manager for Northeast Asphalt Inc. "The trend is absolutely catching on and will become more predominant going forward."
The state garbage tax increased to $7.10 per ton, adding to the benefits.
"Besides taking these materials out of landfills, it will also be less expensive to recycle them," said Chad Doverspike, facility manager with the Brown County Solid Waste Department.
Paul Saharsky of H&S Roofing in Green Bay is telling his competitors about benefits of recycling shingles.
"We're trying to spread the word about Forward Environmental and what they do for contractors in the area to make sure everybody is aware that this type of facility exists," he said.
Saharsky said the company was interested in the idea years ago, but complications regarding permits and startup costs combined with its usual services deterred the roofing company from venturing in that direction.
"When Forward Environmental came forward, we figured it's just as easy to team up with them and be environmentally friendly than open another facility and compete against them for the same product," he said. "Economically, it just makes sense. There's no reason to make a product that can be recycled and not recycle it."
