Horch Roofing Celebrates 10 Million-Pound Milestone in Reroof and Recycle Program

They convert the waste into a reusable aggregate material that the company has in its own driveway and parking lot through the Ton-to-Ton exchange program.

In April 2010, Horch Roofing Founder, Peter Horch, made a decision that 100% of his company’s roofing waste material would be recycled. Today, that total amount of recycled material has reached 10 million pounds; waste that will not end up in a landfill.

“At the time it was hard to imagine that eight years later we would be celebrating this incredible milestone,” Horch said. “Being able to sustainably grow the company and continue my commitment to keeping 500 tons of roofing debris out of local landfills each year hasn’t been an easy task. It was important to me as a business owner and member of the local community to not contribute to the 100,000 tons of re-roofing waste that ends up in Maine’s landfills each year.”

Early in his company’s history, Peter Horch would drive his pickup-truck full of shingles and roofing waste from roofing projects to the Camden dump. At first, he would pull into the dump and drive down into the landfill to dump the roofing materials, but as his company grew, other members of his team would make these trips. One day, while filling in for an employee, Peter returned to the dump to find that he was now driving up the landfill.

“I then realized that I was driving up over my own debris – debris that I’ve pulled from peoples’ roofs,” said Horch. “That mountain is never going to go away. It will be there until my great-grandchildren are living here. And I thought, ‘I just don’t want to do it anymore.’”

After attending a conference on how to create innovative business practices, Peter had an idea: he would create the Reroof and Recycle Program and commit his company to recycling 100% of the roofing waste it was pulling from roofing projects around the Midcoast. Working with CPRC Group in Scarborough to convert this waste material into a reusable aggregate material, Horch Roofing has put the material to use in its own driveway and parking lot through the Ton-to-Ton exchange program.

“Each year, Maine produces over 100,000 tons of re-roofing waste that ends up in landfills,” said Horch. This 10 million-pound milestone by the company puts a significant dent in the amount of waste that is left for future generations to have to manage.

Horch Roofing’s announcement of the recycling milestone coincides with National Roofing Week, June 3-9. Each summer the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) organizes this week to raise awareness across the U.S. about the significance of roofs to every home and business and how important it is to hire a professional roofing contractor.

Horch Roofing is Midcoast Maine’s largest and most experienced roofing contractor. We provide metal roofing, asphalt shingle roofing, EPDM rubber roofing, and seamless gutters for both residential and commercial roofing projects. We also offer free roof estimates. Learn more about Horch Roofing’s Reroof and Recycle Program.

Editor’s note: This article first published on Horch Roofing’s website and can be viewed here. Photo credit Horch Roofing.

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