Sustainable Roofing Reduces Waste

Commercial roof restorations have been proven to cost significantly less than a roof replacement and delay replacements for years, if not decades to come. But restorations are also sustainable roofing solutions because they significantly reduce the amount of commercial roofing waste.

Roofing Waste and Its Impact on Landfills

Over the past 40 years, nearly ten percent of U.S. landfill space has been occupied by roofing waste (source: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers). Too often, commercial roofs are replaced before necessary. Completely tearing off an existing roof fills dumpsters upon dumpsters with membrane materials, insulation, fasteners and more.

Here is just one example. A small- to medium-sized commercial building generally has a roof around 12,000 square feet. Let’s say this roof has two roof systems already installed so it needs a complete tear-off and replacement. The bottom roof includes 2 inches of insulation with a roof system and the top roof adds another 0.5 to 1 inch of roofing materials.

Usually one 30-yard dumpster is required for every 1,200 sq. ft. of roof so in this example, a tear-off would require a minimum of 10 dumpsters. Each dumpster generally holds about 7,000 – 10,000 pounds so that’s about 100,000 pounds of roofing waste going to the landfill.

Repeated Roofing Sustainability

Restorations are by far a more sustainable roofing solution because they utilize the strength of the existing roof system. This results in significantly less roofing waste, less debris and minimal disruption to operations.

A restored roof not only prevents landfill waste when initially installed but can often be renewed toward the end of the original warranty period. In essence, it extends the roof’s life even further and comes with a new warranty. This offers further sustainability of your roof again and again.