Tarpaper: No more roofing-felt waste!
Tarpaper Recycling has a clear vision for the future: from roof to road. The company aims to minimise the environmental impacts of roofing felt waste and by developing a patented method, Tarpaper has now enabled the recycling of roofing-felt.
Traditionally, demolition or refurbishment of roofs leads to roofing-felts being deposited in junkyards or sent for incineration. Instead, Tarpaper has focused on the bitumen present in such materials and found a way to reconvert roofing-felt into a raw material, which can then be used as a fixing agent in the production of new asphalt.
The produced BitumenMix is a granule that consists of 45 % stone materials and 55 % bitumen. No waste is generated in the process and BitumenMix can be used directly in the asphalt production - it is therefore a complete recycling process.
Environmental benefit
Tarpaper Recycling BitumenMix prevents roofing felt waste from being landfilled or incinerated. Its use in asphalt also reduces CO2 emissions by 60 kg per tonne.
Economic benefit
Since up to 50 % of the virgin bitumen in asphalt can be replaced by BitumenMix, this enables cost savings: mixing 2 % BitumenMix into asphalt enables producers to potentially save between 350,000 and 400,000 euros per year.
Societal benefit
Recycled roofing felt waste reduces the pressure on the waste management system and Tarpaper Recycling contributes to furthering circular business models. Furthermore the use of BitumenMix contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 9, 11 and 12.