Stop The Waste: Choose Metal

By Vicwest. 

Vicwest is committed to reducing the amount of waste that goes from the roof into the landfill. 

One of the great advantages of metal roofing is how much the product cuts down on waste. While every year, 20 million tons of asphalt find their way to landfills, metal can be endlessly recycled and reused. Rather than being a roofing material that will take 300 years to decompose, most steel products contain upwards of 80% recycled content and are infinitely recyclable at the end of their life. 

At Vicwest, our goal over the past five years has been the waste we generate during the manufacturing process of our products. During this time, we’ve reduced the amount of waste we produce that goes to landfill to 60%, with the remaining 40% being recycled. This year, our goal is to reduce our waste even further, with only 40% of it going to landfill. 

To put this into context, back in 2016 we sent 240 tons of waste to landfill. Through our waste management efforts, last year we had reduced our waste overall by 100 tons – of which we recycled 60 tons so only 90 tons went to landfill. 

Some of the ways that we’ll achieve this is by radically minimizing our consumption of lumber by redesigning our transport crates so they use less wood. A side benefit of this lumber project has been that it lightens the weight of every truck leaving our facility, which improves fuel efficiency. 

We aim to reduce our lumber usage by another 10% in 2021. We’re installing rainwater harvesting capabilities at our facilities. And all of our scrap or defective steel will be recycled and reused. 

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Original article source: Vicwest