Value in old vinyl

A formal program to recover value from old vinyl siding could be in the works as a trade association that represents siding manufacturers makes strides toward building on a pilot project.

According to the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI), Alexandria, Virginia, the Vinyl Siding Recycling Coalition—formed in 2021—has demonstrated that recycling postconsumer vinyl siding can pay off if given the proper infrastructure and commitment.

“The product’s been in the marketplace since the [19]50s, so there’s a lot of product that may be coming to the end of its useful life,” VSI Vice President Matt Dobson says.

To determine how to keep vinyl tear-offs out of landfills, VSI is working with two recyclers and dozens of other suppliers and manufacturers to develop a recycling program. According to the organization, next steps for later this year could include establishing rules, metrics and a formal program that could eventually grow outside the pilot project’s original footprint in northeast Ohio.

At least one coalition partner—the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, which handles trash in the Ohio county that includes Cleveland—already is promoting vinyl siding recycling. It touts the coalition on its website, advising: “Clean vinyl siding, soffit and accessories used in residential applications plus vinyl downspouts, PVC [polyvinyl chloride] pipe and vinyl fence can be recycled [through] this coalition program.”

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However, contamination is one issue when it comes to dealing with the material generated on housing sites, Dobson says. “When you get it out of the field, it needs to be clean,” he adds. “You’ve got to get the nails out of it; it can’t be contaminated.”

The 25 plants that make vinyl siding in the U.S. recycle their production scrap, but installers typically throw out cast-offs, sending it to landfills, Dobson says.

He adds that logistics are one issue, but that’s true whether installers and recyclers muster ways to ship, store and clean old siding or opt to just throw it out.

“Everybody will always say, ‘Well, it cost too much’ … You have to almost change your mindset, because you’re already paying for dumpsters going into the landfill,” Dobson says. “It’s not any more difficult to pay for a dumpster … [than] to go into a collection bin that’s going to recyclers.”

In a report VSI provided about the project, Sylvia Moore, director of technical development for Akron, Ohio-based resin producer Shintech Inc., notes the coalition’s work comes as lawmakers on the state and national levels push for ways to generate funds for handling some end-of-life materials.

Proposals such as extended producer responsibility legislation would put some of the burden for waste disposal on the siding manufacturers.

“What’s valuable about the coalition is that when extended producer responsibilities start to get passed in different states, we can bring our model in and say, ‘We got this,’” Moore says.

One recycling company trying to address the need is JPI Industrial, headquartered in Lisbon, Ohio, which in recent years has added three plants—including two plants in North Carolina just 40 miles apart.

“People asked why we took on two operations that were close together, and the answer was simple—the demand for vinyl siding recycling is high,” Director of Operations Nicholas Puckett says in the VSI report.

The company’s 200-plus employees currently recycle 250 million pounds of polyvinyl chloride resin across the U.S. Initially, the vinyl recycling pilot might result in just a few thousand more pounds of additional recycled material, Dobson says, but much more is in the pipeline if the effort works.

Recycled vinyl could be used in any type of durable rigid vinyl products, like siding, deck boards and railings, he says.

If recyclers’ efforts are successful, they just might find a burgeoning supply of new—and valuable—plastic to reclaim.

New siding is in demand, meaning more old material will be coming down.

“Essentially, we’re producing as fast as we can, but we’re not keeping up with the current demand,” Dobson says.

The author is senior staff reporter for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing and can be reached at khanna@endeavorb2b.com.