Company recycles 820,000 pounds of shingles in 2017

DaVinci Roofscapes, a roofing company based in Lenexa, Kansas, announced that an emphasis on efficient operations, new blending systems and a dedicated focus on the environment allowed the company to recycle 820,000 pounds of composite roofing scrap in 2017. The excess shake and slate roofing tiles were crushed, then ground down and used to create starter tiles for the company.

“The big story this past year is that our company molded 30 percent more pounds of roofing tiles than in 2016, while simultaneously reducing our scrap by 242,000 pounds over the past year,” Bryan Ward, vice president of operations at DaVinci Roofscapes, says. “This is a terrific achievement when considering … our company’s dedicated commitment to the environment.

“We were able to advance production while reducing scrap by enhancing our recycling efforts. Searching for ways to reduce waste is a full-time dedicated endeavor at our company,” Ward continued.

Thanks in part to an investment in a new blending system, which makes manufacturing operations more efficient, the team at DaVinci Roofscapes sold no scrap to outside firms in 2017.

“It’s very significant that we were able to recycle and reuse 100 percent of all scrap items at our facility last year,” Ward says. “In 2016, we transferred 567,000 pounds of scrap to an outside end-user who makes pallets, crates and totes. That’s a great use for the product because it doesn’t end up in landfills. However, in 2017, our company was able to keep every pound of scrap in-house and reuse it for our own products. That’s a significant achievement.”

DaVinci Roofscapes continues to meet its goal of zero scrap going into landfills. The composite shake and slate manufacturer produces polymer slate and shake roofing tiles in 49 standard colors, plus custom colors. However, each time the manufacturing operation changes color runs, there is a transitioning between colors. Those transition tiles are “off spec,” cannot be used and require recycling. These tiles are segregated by color and then ground up and molded into starter shingles, which are generally unseen on the roof.

“The fact that we increased manufacturing production of roofing tiles in 2017 while substantially decreasing the amount of scrap generated is a huge accomplishment,” Ward says. “We’re on a path toward continually making our operations more efficient, which is great for the environment.”