Environmental Benefits

Better for the Environment – Inside and Out

A popular definition for sustainable roofing was developed during a workshop held at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 1996: A roof system that is designed, constructed, maintained, rehabilitated and demolished with an emphasis throughout its life cycle on using natural resources efficiently and preserving the global environment.

 

The Duro-Last Cool Zone roofing system can minimize environmental impact in several ways:

• Duro-Last is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org). The USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) voluntary rating system is an increasingly popular means for helping building owners determine environmental performance of building components. The Cool Zone system can help in obtaining credits toward LEED and LEED-EB certification.
• Our closed-loop manufacturing process recycles production scrap, benefiting waste reduction
• Because the roofing system is lightweight, less fuel is needed to transport it to the job site than other systems
• The Duro-Last Cool Zone system can often be installed over an existing roof, reducing waste, landfill space and disposal costs. Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL - http://www.ornl.gov) recently estimated that 9-10 million tons of non-recyclable roofing waste is sent to U.S. landfills every year
• Duro-Last offers a “Recycle Your Roof” program, which can reduce disposal costs of existing PVC roof membrane tear-offs when a tear-off is required.
• At the end of its life as a roof, the Duro-Last Cool Zone roofing system can be recycled into other useful products such as specialty flooring (as demonstrated by Oscoda Plastics Inc., Duro-Last’s sister company) and other products.