O’Lyn Contractors, Inc. dba O’Lyn Roofing Contractorsis leading the effort in the State of Massachusetts to make shingle recycling more widely available and give homeowners the option of choosing a roofing contractor such as them who is ensuring shingles don’t end up in landfills. O’Lyn Roofing’s most recent efforts began through an understanding of the Owens Corning Roofing & Asphalt, LLC’s program that simplifies recycling asphalt shingles for contractors. Their efforts are the first by any roofing manufacturer and are facilitated by a national strategic alliance with Heritage Environmental Services. As part of the program, contractors pledge to recycle their shingle tear-offs. In addition to keeping shingle waste out of landfills, contractors benefit by promoting sustainable business practices to homeowners.
Owens Corning is working with Heritage Environmental Services, the largest privately-held environmental services company in the United States. Heritage will provide convenient, cost-competitive, and differentiating drop-off centers that will recycle and process shingle tear-offs into use in paving applications. With programs already in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Chicago & Denver, and with others in the works, O’Lyn Roofing is hoping to focus the attention of this effort, increase consumer awareness, and motivate the state government to accelerate the shingle recycling presence in the North East. One critical component will be guiding the state Department of transportation to set a specification for the use of recycled shingles in paving mixes, which will drive the use of recycled shingles by local paving contractors.
Some impressive numbers associated with supporting the need to recycle shingles:
- 10 million tons of tear-off asphalt shingles are sent to landfill every year in the U.S.
- Trapped in those shingles sent to landfill is the equivalent of 10 million barrels of oil.
- The average roof tear-off creates 3 tons of material that can be recycled.
- The normal household would have to recycle all of their waste for more than a year to make up the waste-to-landfill they created by not recycling their roof.
The environmental benefits are even more compelling and critical at a time when we are paying to bury recyclable material and our landfills are quickly running out of space. When one considers that the Gulf oil spill put 4.4 million barrels of oil into the environment (Columbia University), it highlights the urgency of reducing or eliminating that 10 million barrel equivalent that we intentionally bury. By partnering with companies such as Owens Corning, Heritage Environmental Services and local disposal company CL Noonan Container Services, Inc., O’Lyn Roofing hopes to foster a mutually beneficial system for keeping recyclable roofing material out of landfills while lowering material and disposal costs, promoting a healthier planet and roofing industry. David Nessralla General Manager at CL Noonan says “At CL Noonan we recycle as many materials as we can, and that list of recyclables is growing. For the future, we will also contribute our services to support and develop asphalt shingle recycling in Massachusetts with programs such as the Owens Corning/Heritage alliance. CL Noonan will provide the best possible recycling collection for great roofing contractors in the area such as O’Lyn Roofing.”
About O’Lyn Roofing
O’Lyn Contractors, Inc. dba O’Lyn Roofing Contractors is a family owned and operated company formed in 1974 by Michael Olen. Over the past 36 years the business has included brother Tom Olen, sister Kathy Olen and wife Linda Olen. They are a leading roofing repair and replacement company and have installed nearly 20,000 roofs in the Boston metro area.
