Ideal Recycling aims to recycle 20,000 tons of shingles this year

Ideal Recycling’s bottom line gains weight every year. Tons of it.The Southfield-based start-up recycles asphalt shingles and has increased the tonnage of recycled material each year since it started in 2009, when it collected 14,500 tons of old shingles, keeping them out of landfills and putting them into roads. That went up to 16,000 tons last year, and the company is aiming for 20,000 tons this year.”Every year we get a little more,” says Chris Edwards, vice president of Ideal Recycling. “More customers learn about us every day. It’s a slow go because we’re changing the industry.”Old asphalt shingles are normally torn off a roof and disposed of in a landfill or places like the Detroit Incinerator. Ideal Recycling takes those old shingles and recycles the petroleum-based product into asphalt road material. The company also recycles the old wood and metal that comes with tearing off an old roof.Ideal Recycling employs four people during the slow time of year but will often increase its staff to half a dozen during the busy summer season. Edwards hopes to add even more jobs as the company continues to educate roofers, builders and people in construction trades that there are sustainable ways to dispose of construction waste.Source: Chris Edwards, vice president of Ideal RecyclingWriter: Jon Zemke