By Don Browne
It’s been said that the journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step. When it comes to recycling vinyl siding and other rigid vinyl building products, the journey can start with many steps happening simultaneously – thanks to the Revinylize Recycling Collaborative™.
“This is
what Revinylize is all about – a one-stop solution for home builders and home remodelers [and consumers] to connect with collection sites, recyclers, and manufacturers to turn ‘scrap’ into treasure, renewable, durable, building material treasure,” said Matt Dobson, Vice President of the Polymeric Exterior Products Association (PEPA). “The concurrent benefits – cost savings on the job, new business development, exciting new products made from recycled vinyl, and a healthier planet through reduced carbon footprint – can all happen with one simple step and commitment: join Revinylize.”
After a two-year pilot project in the heart of the world’s vinyl siding manufacturing industry, Revinylize was launched in December 2023 in partnership with PEPA, the Vinyl Institute (who made a generous grant to help fund the collaborative), the PVC Pipe Association, the Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association (PPFA) and initial verification from three of North America’s top rigid vinyl recyclers – JP Industrial, Return Polymers and Viking Recycling. Their collection sites have grown with the recent additions of C&D diversion points, Michael Brothers in Pittsburgh, and Richard S. Burns & Company in Philadelphia. These participating companies are GreenCircle Certified, a third-party certifying group, and Revinylize strategic partner.
The program’s initial goal is to recycle 5 million pounds of post-consumer rigid vinyl by the end of 2025. As of August 2023, the collaborative had recycled half a million pounds. As the program has become formalized utilizing GreenCircle Certified – and shifts its focus to recruiting new partners in Louisville, KY, Nashville, TN, and the Northeast – we are confident that this figure will potentially quadruple by the end of 2024.
Potential sponsors are easily impressed by the enormous potential for growth that includes:
- More than 300 million pounds of post-consumer vinyl siding is ready for recycling each year (based on PEPA, Home Innovation
Research Labs, and S. Census Bureau data) - New construction – total 40 million pounds of post-consumer rigid vinyl recycling, with:
- 250,000 single-family homes with vinyl siding (125 lbs. of recyclable rigid vinyl per home) amounting to 30 million lbs. total per sector
- 100,000 multi-family homes with vinyl siding (100 lbs. of recyclable rigid vinyl per home) amounting to 10 million lbs. total per sector
- Home remodeling – totals 262 million pounds of post-consumer rigid vinyl recycling, with:
- 900,000 remodeled vinyl siding home units (125 lbs. of recyclable rigid vinyl per unit) amounting to 112 million lbs. total per sector
- 100,000 units of vinyl siding tear-offs (1,500 lbs. of recyclable rigid vinyl per unit) amounting to 150 million lbs. total per sector
“Right now, we are targeting remodelers because they are on the front lines with the greatest potential,” Matt explained. “We want to connect them with GreenCircle Certified recyclers through Revinylize who are willing to pay to take those heavy volumes of post-consumer vinyl off their hands.”
For Vinyl Siding, the Journey Started a Long Time Ago
While the Revinylize Recycling Collaborative has much work to do to achieve the 2025 goal, as well as the ultimate goal of eventually recycling hundreds of millions of pounds of vinyl annually, the vinyl siding industry has deep roots in the recycling arena that date back to the development of co-extrusion more than 50 years ago. It’s this same process that the industry has been perfecting that:
1) results in less than 1% manufacturing waste, and
2) allows vinyl building products to be used to make new products.
In recent years, PEPA and its members have invested significantly in improving the sustainability of their products and the processes by which they are manufactured. This includes recycling post-consumer rigid vinyl for product re-generation and a healthier planet, as well as creating the most user-friendly Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to educate builders and remodelers on the sustainable advantages of working with vinyl siding and other polymeric exterior products.
Furthermore, the organizers’ industry-wide passion and commitment to sustainability have led to the creation of this new North American recycling initiative, which has been years in the making. The journey that began with a single co-extrusion in the 1970s (or even earlier) is now Revinylize.
Now that you know what Revinylize is and the many steps it allows you to take at once, the next question is, what are you waiting for?
To learn more about how Revinylize can benefit your business and local community, visit www.revinylizenow.org or contact Matt Dobson at mdobson@revinylizenow.org.
