Melba Products has turned the plastic – which was unused and left over from production – into traffic management products such as road cones and barriers
Advanced Roofing now wants to turn its attention to post-consumer waste plastic roofing which company owner Gordon Harris predicts will see a rise in volume in coming years. The material can last around 50 years so not much is available yet for post-consumer recycling but this is expected to change as old roofs are renewed over the next decade.
Mr Harris estimates that 1-1.5% of PVC roofing materials, up to a square metre in size, already end up in landfill. He said a recycling scheme is becoming increasingly necessary but he needs “logistics” partners to come forward and help set up a collection system.
Collection cells
His recycling scheme involves “cells” of participating contractors working with each other in a small geographical area.
This would involve material being collected by roofing technicians, put into rubble sacks and taken back to a central base and tipped into bulk bags. When a company has filled several bulk bags, they would telephone a collection firm who would pick-up the waste in a “milk round” arrangement with other companies in the area.
Mr Harris, a former chairman of the Single Ply Roofing Association – the industry trade organisation – said: “Roofing membrane recycling is still very much in its infancy here but volumes of this recyclable material, particularly post-consumer waste, are predicted to grow. So recycling it has to be right.
“Contractors will benefit commercially. When they are not using skips but bagging waste up and sending it away, they will be saving landfill costs and maybe even getting reimbursed by the recycler,” he added.
Recovinyl has said that while such schemes are well-established in Europe, none presently exist in the UK. David Clegg, purchasing director at Melba Products, agreed.
He said: “We use 800 tonnes of recyclate a month from cable, flooring and auto interiors, much of it from Europe. Getting the volume is essential to make it practical and commercially viable.”
Trade association
As well as having the backing of Recovinyl – an initiative of the European-wide PVC industry body Vinyl 2010, which aims to boost PVC recycling across Europe – the scheme also has the backing of the Single Ply Roofing Association.
Secretary Jim Hooker said: “As an association we are trying to drive this too. Gordon took the initiative to talk to one of his processors and with his help, we hope to persuade the several hundred roofing contractors in the UK, not just our members, to recycle more in the volumes needed to make it pay.”
The Association is due to begin research into the amount and condition of post-consumer roofing membrane entering the UK waste stream, this month. This is with a view to assessing alternatives to its current landfill disposal route.
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