Used shingles that could go a long way

In Quebec, the majority of asphalt shingles, which dominate sloping roofs due to their lower cost, end up in landfills. According to several speakers, however, this is a resource that could be used more judiciously…. in the roadways. However, this idea does not make much headway despite the ambitions of Recyc-Québec.

Retired engineer Gilles Bernardin is inexhaustible when it comes to used asphalt shingles. I don’t know of much construction debris other than aluminum, copper wire, or steel, which have such great inherent valueexplains this enthusiast of unloved materials.

The shingles contain 15 to 30% bitumen, which is worth around $1,000 per ton. For a single-family home roof, this can equate to several hundred dollars.

Currently, the vast majority of used shingles removed from roofs end up in landfills. For Gilles Bernardin, who has been working hard for years to have its value recognized, this constitutes an aberration.

In Quebec, we have the “envoye à dumpe” quite easy. I find it extremely sad when a material with this savings potential is sent to landfillhe argues.

From roofs to landfills

In 2021, around 64,000 tonnes of shingles were thrown into the garbage in Quebec, an area equivalent to at least 600 football fields, underlines Nicolas Bellerose, environmental advisor at Recyc-Québec. For him, this is a worrying quantity.

That’s not all: in a single year, approximately the same amount was sent to landfills to cover waste or access roads.

This is definitely not an ideal use. It is rather considered a necessary evil, in a certain sense. It’s not elimination, but it’s closehe says.

That’s without counting all the used shingles that end up illegally in the environment. There could be up to 60,000 tonnes annually, according to Recyc-Québec, which however does not know the exact extent of this phenomenon.

Marcel Poiré is the founding president of the PurNat organization, whose mission is to clean up illegal dumps. He agreed to show us a site he knows well, where shingles were illegally thrown away.

We came here three times with sixty, seventy, a hundred people, and then there were still more.

On the ground, in the middle of nature, piles of shingles clump together under the effect of the sun’s rays.

For Marcel Poiré, used shingles are a real pain because they are friable and fall apart into countless small pieces. It takes a long time to clean, it’s difficult. This might be the worst thing to clean.he believes.

The general director of the organization Innovative cities and regionsPierre Racicot, who campaigns for the circular economy, accompanied him that day.

It takes a government that has the political will to create channels, that is to say, to ensure that when the shingle comes off the roof, it is taken on board, treated so that it goes to recycling. , upon recovery, then put back on the market in a transformed mannerhe declares.

Shingles in the roads

Recyc-Québec has found a solution. The best way to recycle shingles – which is also done elsewhere – is to put them back into a mixture to make new asphalt.explains environmental advisor Nicolas Bellerose.

The idea holds water, according to researcher Alan Carter, who welcomes us to the Laboratory on Pavements and Bituminous Materials, of which he is responsible at the École de Technologie Supérieure.

The shingle and a road are similar. In both cases, we speak of granular mass bitumen. It’s almost the same recipemaintains Alan Carter by showing us samples of pavement which contain roof residue.

For him, used shingles, once shredded, have their place in the province’s roadways. For us, shingles are not waste. It is a primary resourcehe specifies.

However, the idea did not catch on much. In fact, there is no demand for this type of asphalt from the main project owners, which are municipalities and the Ministry of Transport, according to Bitume Québec, an organization that represents the majority of paving companies. .

New asphalt with 100% new materials compared to asphalt that contains recycled materials is the same price. There are some who say: “For the same price, I want 100% new.” Unfortunately, it’s true: there are many who say thatunderlines Stéphane Trudeau, engineer and technical director of this organization.

In Quebec, the use of used shingles in roadways is indeed authorized, except for highways. Since 2011, the Ministry of Transport has allowed 3 to 5% to be included in bituminous coating mixtures, i.e. asphalt.

However, for the industry, there is no incentive to use used shingles. For the moment, Bitume Québec prefers to focus on recycling old asphalt removed during road repairs, for which the organization has set objectives.

No obligation

However, integrating small quantities of used shingles into the coatings could work miracles. Let’s say, tomorrow morning, that we decide to take 100% of the shingles that go to the landfill, to put a small percentage of shingles inside in the coating. We can almost eliminate the problem.thinks researcher Alan Carter.

For Bitume Québec, if it were mandatory to integrate it, the industry would adjust.

In the United States, there are quantities of shingles that are integrated into bituminous coatings. Why is it so difficult to get people out of the status quo?

Last June, Recyc-Québec presented its priority actions to reduce the landfilling of construction, renovation and demolition (CRD) residues – including asphalt shingles – and to increase their recycling and reuse.

Residues CRD represent nearly a third (32%) of all materials eliminated each year, according to Recyc-Québec. In 2021, only 53% of these residues were sent to a sorting center.

For the moment, with regard to shingles, Recyc-Québec tells us that no restrictive measures are planned. The organization focuses instead on awareness.

However, two major asphalt shingle manufacturers have launched shingle recycling initiatives.

Indeed, BP Canada says its Edmonton plant “has begun redirecting shingle waste for use in paving applications.”

For its part, the IKO company announced last year the commissioning of its shingle recycling plant located in Hawkesbury, Ontario.