TEST TW WEATHER

February 20, 2009 Old Shingles To Cover New Roads

Fox Valley’s old shingles to cover new roads
Asphalt firm to add recycled waste to the mix

By Ed Lowe • Post-Crescent staff writer • February 20, 2009

APPLETON — When the asphalt on your roof starts leaking, it might as
well end up under your wheels down the road.
Advertisement

That’s the idea at work when Appleton asphalt producer MCC Inc. begins
collecting and recycling roofing shingles from building contractors
and waste haulers at its Mackville facility next month.

The company received a permit for the asphalt shingle recycling
operation last fall, said Adam Tegelman, MCC’s environmental safety
manager. The firm will work with Rooftop Recycling, of Elkhorn, to
convert the roofing waste into material used in asphalt hot mix.

The recycling program is designed to reduce the firm’s
asphalt-processing costs — and the flow of waste into Fox Valley
landfills. Michael Ettner, the owner of Rooftop Recycling, said the
program also will reduce waste-disposal costs to roofers.

Tegelman said it’s too soon to say how much shingle material the firm
will collect for recycling this year.

“It depends on the amount of shingle material generated from
residential work” in the Fox Valley, Tegelman said. “We don’t really
know what that will be because of the economy this year. But we do
know there are roofing companies out there that need to work and they
will be bringing their material to us.

“But anything that comes in will be good on the waste-diversion side.
We’ll be keeping it out of the landfill and we think it will be good
for us, too.”

Once enough material is collected, Ettner’s firm will sort and grind
the shingles on-site, producing material added to the firm’s hot mix
asphalt. The state Department of Transportation approved the use of
recycled asphalt from shingles in state road projects starting this
year, Ettner said.

MCC and Rooftop Recycling discussed prospects for a small asphalt
shingle drop-off site at the Outagamie County landfill, but the idea
was scrapped. Ettner said it made more to collect the material near
the asphalt plant where it will be reused.

Ettner said his firm collected some 30,000 tons of recyclable shingles
for use in asphalt last year at four sites in the southern half of the
state. He said the state Department of Natural Resources has estimated
that at least 10 times that volume of recyclable roofing materials
ends up in Wisconsin landfills annually.

The recycled shingles can reduce the demand for oil used in asphalt
process by between 3 percent and 5 percent, Outagamie County Solid
Waste Director Phil Stecker has said.

Tegelman said the cost of that oil drove his company’s interest
initially.

“With the price of liquid asphalt being so expensive, we figure
anything we can do to reduce (its use) will lower our costs and the
costs for our customers,” Tegelman said.

Ed Lowe: 920-993-1000, ext. 293, or [email protected]