LENEXA, Kan. — Eight years ago, DaVinci Roofscapes began its recycling program. Now, on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the composite roofing manufacturer announces the company has reprocessed and re-used more than 7 million pounds of polymer scrap as part of the company’s environmental initiative.

“As our manufacturing operations have increased over the years, naturally so has the output of waste materials,” said Bryan Ward, vice president of operations at DaVinci Roofscapes in Lenexa, Kan. “However, the big news is that we can recapture almost all of the waste and reprocess it as starter roofing shingles. In 2019 alone, we reprocessed 1,071,994 pounds of scrap materials. This effort has resulted in a net zero landfill scrap from our facility for the third year in a row.”

Dedication to recycling efforts and investments in state-of-the-art blending systems have helped DaVinci Roofscapes achieve and maintain its remarkable net zero landfill scrap goal. The company anticipates adding production capacity in 2020 while still maintaining its commitment to environmental stewardship.

“We’re focused on a net zero landfill scrap goal into the future,” said Ward. “Recycling and reusing is our way of life at this facility.”

Commitment to the Environment

DaVinci Roofscapes manufactures composite slate and shake roofing tiles for residential and commercial projects. An industry leader in color offerings, the company has 27 unique color blends and more than 50 stock colors.

Each time the manufacturing operation changes color runs, there is a transitioning period between colors. Those transition tiles are “off spec,” and cannot be used. Those are the tiles that are pulled out, segregated by color, ground up and then reprocessed into starter shingles, which are generally unseen on a roof. All DaVinci tiles are 100% recyclable, whether in the manufacturing plant or after seeing decades of use on a home.

“We are continually making advancements in our operations,” said Ward. “Recently we upgraded and invested more than $700,000 in new systems. These advanced machines reduce scrap and downtime associated with color changes on our lines. The investment in the new systems is just another way we’re focusing on positive manufacturing techniques with an eye toward environmental stewardship.

“Earth Day is the ideal time for us to share our recycling news each year. It’s truly amazing that we’ve been able to recycle and reuse more than 7 million pounds of polymer scrap at our facility. In a significant way, we’re putting the landfill people out of business because we have such a solid record of recycling our scrap!”