Owens Corning ups shingle recycling capabilities

Owens Corning has announced its intention to recycle two million tons of shingles per year in the U.S. by 2030.

The company has launched workstreams focused on two methods of shingle recycling: recycling shingles into new shingles and recycling shingles into asphalt pavement. Both approaches intend to reclaim 100% of the shingle to eliminate product waste.

“We have invested in shingle recycling efforts through both internal expertise and collaboration with external partners. This has generated significant learnings that will enable us to accelerate our shingle recycling ambitions and advance this work across the industry to keep shingles out of landfills,” said Gunner Smith, Roofing President.

New shingles

Owens Corning is piloting asphalt shingle recycling in partnership with ASR Systems and CRS Reprocessing Services. Located in Indianapolis on the grounds of Indiana Shingle Recycling, the pilot, to be constructed and run by Indiana Shingle Recycling and CRS Reprocessing Services, will utilize several proprietary, patented processes for deconstructing post-consumer and post-industrial shingles to extract and reuse individual component raw materials. These raw materials will be transported to Owens Corning manufacturing facilities where they will be tested in the production of new shingles made with recycled content.

“We believe this approach will provide higher-value recycled materials than other methods, resulting in a higher percentage of recycled content used in new shingles,” Smith added. “We’ve proven it at lab scale and this pilot will help us move toward commercialization.”

Asphalt paving

Owens Corning is using its expertise in asphalt innovation to increase the use of recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) in the paving market. By working closely with paving contractors, Owens Corning scientists have provided technical guidance for incorporating recycled shingles in an asphalt mix design that meets federal and state paving performance requirements. Through this work, the company has diverted 40 million pounds of used shingles from the landfill into pavement since 2020.

“Dedicating experts in our organization to testing and evaluating the right mix design of recycled shingles in asphalt paving has helped to create a product that can stand up to the demands of the road. We are focused on proactively expanding this offering to additional markets to continue increasing the volume of shingles diverted from landfills,” Smith added.