The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association recently announced the result of its annual recycled content survey, which reports its members' use of recycled materials.

Pressure is mounting for the building and construction industry to become more sustainable. Designing more energy-efficient buildings is part of that, but reducing embodied carbon is a more pressing — and often challenging — issue.

Since being launched in 1999, the Armstrong Ceilings Recycling Program—the nation’s first and longest-running ceilings recycling program—has diverted more than 200 million square feet of discarded ceiling materials from landfills, saving enough virgin resources to fill New York’s Central Park six times over.

Now produced using 50% less carbon dioxide (CO2), the company’s premium RHEINZINK-prePATINA products are now part of its RHEINZINK-ECO ZINC offering. This is the first architectural zinc material in the world to reduce an already small carbon footprint by more than half.

Inherent in their makeup, metal roofs are sustainable, durable, and last about three times longer than other roofs. They help to trap less heat and cool a building down quicker.

Jennifer Oblock, executive director of Chemical Fabrics and Film Association-Vinyl Roofing Division, will present an article on PVC (vinyl) roof recycling at the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants International Convention & Trade Show in Houston, Texas, on March 4.

Saint-Gobain North America, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed Roofing, has acquired the rights to technology from recycling partner Asphaltica that will allow the company to recycle asphalt shingle waste, diverting it from landfill and furthering the company’s commitment to creating a circular economy in its production of roofing shingles.

In early November, Owens Corning announced advancements toward its circular economy aspiration through enhanced shingle recycling efforts. The company intends to recycle two million tons of shingles per year in the U.S. by 2030.

Located in historic New Bedford, an old whaling town on the Southern Coast of Massachusetts, Parallel Products of New England recently completed its Duchaine Boulevard project, a center for processing and technology development—on its 130-acre campus for recycling and the production of green energy.

PVC roofing is the only commercial roofing material that is being recycled, at the end of decades of service life, into the feedstock to make new roofing membranes.