Innovations that Can Save the Planet

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Environmental roofing product innovations that are making a difference in the industry and the Earth. 

In this three-part special Roofing Road Trips podcast series, Heidi J. Ellsworth visits with Leah Lemmons and Eileen Dutton of Malarkey Roofing Products. The three discuss Malarkey’s history of environmental roofing product innovation that ranges from strongly redundant long-term roofing products, to hail- and wind-resistant shingles to recently introduced smog eating and reflective roofing.

Eileen is the vice president of product at Malarkey Roofing and has been with the company for 10 years. Eileen also has an impressive 40-year background in asphalt and the roofing industry and brings experience and knowledge to the Malarkey team.  

Leah Lemmons is the research and development lab manager at Malarkey and the co-chair of National Women in Roofing (NWiR) Oregon council. Leah has been with Malarkey for four years, starting as an engineer before moving to manager.  

Malarkey is known for their commitment to upcycling materials and polymers, but it’s easy to look at the asphalt shingles Malarkey produces – or any asphalt shingle – and wonder if it’s possible for asphalt to have a positive environmental impact. Fortunately, Malarkey has always been open about their research, findings and manufacturing practices. As of now, Malarkey has single handedly diverted two million tires and 217 million plastic bottles from landfills and is a certified green manufacturer, which means over 90% of the waste from their manufacturing facilities is diverted from landfills. 

“These SBS polymer modified systems with our next gen formulation and technology inside of them are designed to last longer, to be stronger, to provide performance when it matters, not when it's just first installed, but after those big weather events, after the hail events, after those windstorms,” said Leah. “That really prevents product from prematurely getting into a landfill [because] you have a strong product to begin with.” 

In terms of products, Malarkey’s smog-reducing granules are the first of their kind. The impact of the reduced smog technology can be equated to planting 885,000 trees, which greatly benefits urban communities where smog tends to be high, and greenery low. Additionally, Malarkey has big plans for introducing smog-reducing technology to low slope and commercial roofing.  

“We are excited about that and the SBS modified also,” said Eileen. “We hope that between the SBS on low slope, between the hail and the wind and the smog-reducing [technology] that we're going to have a lot more trees planted on the low slope side as well.”  

“We are committed as a company to have a very positive impact on our environment and try as hard as we can to really live that, breathe that, and be that,” said Leah. “It's not just creating a shingle that has post-consumers in it, or it's got these upcycled polymers in it. It's not just about that. It's about when the shingles hit the roof, we mean sustainable and we are sustainable.” 

Listen to all three podcasts to hear more about the environmentally minded roofing products that are making a difference for the planet today. 

Learn more about Malarkey Roofing Products in their RoofersCoffeeShop® directory or visit www.malarkeyroofing.com.