Roof Shingle Disposal Guide
Dealing with old roof shingles after a tear-off or roof replacement project poses an immense burden for homeowners. However, responsible disposal is crucial to avoid contaminating soils, groundwater, and the environment while complying with regulations.
We'll explore common mistakes, recycling programs, disposal laws, transportation protocols, and safe DIY techniques for handling this hazardous roofing waste stream. With some planning and effort, you can divert shingles from landfills.
Understanding Roof Shingle Waste
Before ripping off shingles, understand what composite materials you're handling to appraise contamination risks and establish safe disposal protocols.
Types of Roof Shingles
Asphalt shingles contain asphalt sealant, paper mats, mineral granules, and fiberglass meshes. Wood shingles and shakes comprise untreated western red cedar. Concrete tiles originate from natural stone aggregates. Metal panels use coated steel, aluminum, copper, zinc, or lead sheets.
Each composition and manufacturing process impacts recycling feasibility and waste classification. Coal tar variants are deemed hazardous.
Potential Contaminants
Used asphalt shingles pose immense concerns as composites leach bitumen oils, asbestos fibers, chemicals, and heavy metals during breakdown. Old roofs also accumulate moss, lichens, bird feces, nails, tars, seals, and miscellaneous construction debris over decades.
Wood shingles foster mold growth without protective staining or fire retardants. Rusted metal and eroding concrete particles shed microscopic waste streams. Such complex tear-off waste mandates careful handling and disposal.
Deterioration and Runoff Issues
Unprotected waste shingle stacks weather quickly, increasingly shedding particulates through erosion. Exposure to rain or moisture accelerates fragmentation. Runoff channels debris far from sites, spreading contamination risks.
Environmental and Health Impacts
Carelessly discarded or stockpiled roofing waste poses immense environmental and safety hazards. Landfilled bundles occupy precious space, anaerobically generating methane while releasing toxins into soils, aquifers, and waterways. Open uncontrolled burning or dumping in unauthorized areas also yield intense air, water, and land pollution.
Preparing for a Roof Tear-Off Project
Meticulous planning and prep work ensures safe, effective, and hassle-free shingle removal plus responsible subsequent disposal.
Verify Disposal Regulations
Thoroughly investigate county ordinances, municipal waste directives, landfill policies, and recycling facility intake protocols before shingle stripping operations. Understand documentation, contamination, storage, transport and tipping frameworks to avoid violations or disposal rejections.
Inspect for Hazardous Materials
Before tear-off, screen shingles, roof components, insulation, flashings, valleys, vents and substrates for asbestos, lead, oils, and coal tar residues. Testing helps classify waste streams and identify mandatory abatement needs.
Estimate Waste Volumes
Approximating your roof's square footage, shingle layers, and replacements made helps forecast the debris quantity needing hauling. This aids planning suitable container rentals, junk removals, transportation, or recycling pickups.
Gather Equipment and Supplies
Stock protective gear, harnesses, ramps, shovels, debris nets, storage bins, pry bars, safety ropes, and thick work gloves for safe shingle handling during stripping. Rent dumpsters, trucks, dust barriers, and conveyors as required.
Map Transport Routes
Confirm optimal routes for transporting bagged waste to your selected recycling facility, transfer station, or disposal site beforehand accounting for vehicle height, weight, distance factors. Choose legally compliant haulage pathways minimizing community exposure.
Removing and Collecting Old Shingles
Exercise immense care when tearing off and loading old shingles to minimize safety mishaps plus surrounding soil and ecosystem contamination across the deconstruction site and vicinity.
Isolate the Roof Worksite
Cordon off ground areas around the house using trenching, fencing, or dust screens. Seal vents, HVAC intakes, and low openings to block entry of asbestos fibers and chemical dusts into interior living spaces, basements, and crawlspaces.
Wear Protective Equipment
Use heavy-duty gloves, disposable coveralls, goggles, P100 respirators, and sealed footwear during tear-off to prevent inhaling/contacting hazardous particulates, shards, rust flakes, sealants, and dusts.
Work in Manageable Sections
Systematically strip shingles off methodically in narrow strips or quadrants across sloped roof faces rather than tackling entire expansive areas hastily in one go. This affords better debris control.
Bag Wastes Immediately
Directly shovel, pile and slide shingle flaps into sturdy bags right after prying up without accumulating loose mounds on-site. Quick sealing curtails dispersion across the property via winds.
Schedule Prompt Pickups
Expeditious debris collection enhances safety and curbs pollution risks from haphazard interim mishandling or storage. Fix reliable recycling or disposal pickups for the same day as tear-off completion.
Transporting Shingles to Disposal Sites
Stringent containment protocols during roof waste transfers minimize adverse environmental and health impacts enroute to drop-off locations.
Select Optimal Vehicles
Choose haulage vehicles suiting expected load sizes, road regulations, facility access, and unloading modes. Enclosed trucks prevent leaks and separate drivers from loads.
Line Vehicle Beds
Outfit cargo beds with durable, leak-proof plastic liners or platforms to keep tear-offs fully contained until disposal area tipping. This safeguards vehicles too against corrosion and residue entrapment.
Evenly Distribute Loads
Carefully balance waste item distribution across deck space to prevent shifting/toppling and maintain legal axle weights. Compact densely without exceeding recommended load limits.
Double Wrap for Extra Protection
Utilize tight-fitting waterproof tarpaulins secured over bagged debris with straps as an additional containment measure against leaks, avoiding litter trails to facilities.
Clean Vehicles Before Leaving
Inspect trucks diligently before departure from facilities, ensuring no clinging waste debris remains externally or internally before hitting roads to sustain cleanliness.
Recycle and Reuse Alternatives
Before resorting to landfilling debris, explore eco-friendly and sustainable ways to divert shingle waste from garbage dumps.
Leverage Curbside Pickups
Many municipalities now provide scheduled roof tear-off recycling curbside collections or drop-offs funneling wastes into recycled road paving, pathways, bricks, timber products and insulation.
Reuse Scraps Around the Home
Grind and creatively repurpose intact shingle shreds across gardening landscaping, shed flooring, chicken coops, or compost enclosures on your own property sustaining resources in a closed loop.
Donate to Community Projects
Hand over reusable second-hand shingle squares to non-profit rehabilitation programs assisting underprivileged families and homeless shelters with affordable roof replacements post-disasters.
Asphalt composition shingles undergo complex processing at specialty recyclers liberating embedded bitumen and aggregates for furnace fuel, cement kilns, hot mixes, and re-manufacturing feedstock.