From rooftops to roads: Recycling shingles
Two Tennessee roofers create a seasonal shingle recycling business.
Tennessee Shingle Recycling estimates it saved about 4,200 tons of ground shingles from landfills in 2014. While national statistics indicate about 10 million tons of shingles end up in a landfill each year, the 4,200 tons aren’t too shabby considering 2014 was the company’s inaugural year.
Bo Teague, co-owner of the Murfreesboro, Tenn., company, calls 2014 a “solid launch” for his shingle-grinding business.
“We saved a lot of shingles from the landfill,” Teague says. “We had a good amount of product for our customers. I would say it was a good first year.”
Teague co-founded Tennessee Shingle Recycling with Jordan Howell in April 2014, but the inspiration and preparation for the company started a couple years prior to its launch. Teague, who also works with Quality Exteriors roofing, says he came up with the idea in 2009 when he saw multiple loads of shingles going to a landfill after a hailstorm near his hometown.
Being a roofer, Teague knew materials in shingles could also be used to pave roads.
“That was my ‘aha’ moment,” he says. “I had an opportunity to make a business out of [recycling shingles]. It would be hard, rewarding work. I knew I would be doing something good. The right thing.”
Teague shared his idea with Howell, owner of Quality Exteriors. After some consideration, Howell agreed to support Teague in launching a shingle recycling business.
“I’m an eco-friendly type of guy,” Howell says. “I work for Quality Exteriors, which is one of the largest roofing companies in the state. As a roofer, it killed me seeing so many shingles headed to a landfill.”
According to Teague, launching a shingle recycling business requires hours of research and permitting with the Department of Transportation (DOT). Teague says he worked with the Tennessee DOT for two years, learning about permitting and legislation. He says the two-year education process was not easy, especially because he was doing his daily work with Quality Exteriors on top of that.
“As with anything, it’s a lot of research before jumping in,” Teague says. “I had to figure out the best methods of collecting and grinding shingles by talking with other recyclers in the United States and learning from their mistakes. I was fortunate I had good people to talk to.”
Once all the permitting and research was done, Tennessee Shingle Recycling ground its first load of shingles in April 2014. Teague and Howell kept busy the whole first year of business.
As a smaller business, Teague says he kept his equipment simple. He uses both a Case CX290 excavator and a horizontal feed wood grinder from a contractor that comes in periodically to help Tennessee Shingle Recycling grind shingles. Howell says that already having some roofing contacts through Quality Exteriors helped Tennessee Shingle Recycling build relationships with roofers quicker.
Market direction
While Teague says shingle recyclers aren’t nearly as common as tire shops, he says there are enough of them today that it seems the market is moving. Dave Stanczak, vice president of sales for Southwind RAS, says shingle recyclers began appearing in the early 2000s. He adds that shingle recycling has gained momentum the past five years, in particular because more DOTs are comfortable with using recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) for paving projects. He says state DOTs have also been increasing the percentage of shingles allowed in hot-mix asphalt.
To be a successful shingle recycling company today, Stanczak says new companies in the industry need to know how to market RAS to paving contractors.
“The product saves pavers money, so more people are behind this industry now,” Stanczak says. “The key to shingle recycling is saving money. For the roofing contractors, you save them money by not having them throw away the used product to a landfill. As the paver, you save money with this new product.”
Tennessee Shingle Recycling garnered a fair amount of interest from pavers in its region. Teague says pavers requested RAS from his company almost as quickly as he could collect them off roofs.
“I’d say this industry is growing,” he says. “As for us, we had a good launch, selling every bit of product before we even grind it. People seem to be demanding [RAS] more often.”