According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 11 million to 13 million tons of asphalt shingles end up in landfills each year, which take upward of 300 years to break down. After seeing the amount of roofing waste firsthand, Lendlease together with Rubicon Technologies, Mycocycle, and Rockwood Sustainable recently set out to reduce construction and demolition waste to produce a sustainable and reusable product.
The four partners have completed a pilot project involving used asphalt shingles, mushrooms, and mycoremediation technology. “Every asphalt shingle from the 214 homes at our Fort Campbell Army installation would have gone to a landfill,” says Sara Neff, head of sustainability at Lendlease Americas. “There was simply no viable use for them.
“We understand the importance of reducing our Scope 3 carbon by diverting waste streams from the landfill. After teaming up with Rubicon, Mycocycle, and Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, we came up with an innovative idea using mycoremediation technology; combining mushrooms and shingles to break down waste materials and create a new byproduct that could ideally be reintroduced for reuse, furthering a circular economy.”
Courtesy of Mycocycle
Mycocycle and asphalt shingle blend.
Shingle samples were gathered and transported to Rockwood Sustainable Solutions’ facility in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Mycocycle, an environmental remediation company that uses fungi to decarbonize waste streams, performed a pilot study mixing the sample with three strains of fungi, a process called mycoremediation.
“The successful completion of this pilot is a fantastic example of environmental innovation in action,” says Nate Morris, chairman and CEO of Rubicon. “Rubicon’s mission is to end waste, and it is innovations such as these that find second-life circular solutions for hard-to-recycle materials. Partnerships, like this one between Rubicon, Lendlease, Mycocycle, and Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, are possible when environmental innovation and the circular economy meet.”
“Using mycoremediation to process waste so as to be further recycled and form part of the circular economy is its highest use,” says Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycocycle. “Our mycelium recycling pilots continue to see excellent results among a wide range of materials, and I’m excited to see where our work, in partnership with Lendlease, Rubicon, and Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, takes us.”
Courtesy of Mycocycle
Mycelium and asphalt shingle mix.
On Nov. 1 at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in San Francisco, Alexandra Ewing of Lendlease, Chris Batterson of Rubicon, Lincoln Young of Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, and Joanne Rodriguez of Mycocycle will host a session on the results of this project titled “Forging a Truly Circular Economy for Toxic C&D Materials.”
“This partnership has the potential to be a template for the future,” continues Neff. “Of those 11 million to 13 million tons of asphalt shingles dumped in landfills each year, only 5% to 10% are being recycled. Taking a product that is no longer viable and combining it with a natural renewable source that results in a new product is a phenomenal outcome that is both beneficial to the environment and bolsters the economy. We are proud of this pilot and our future partnerships with Rubicon, Rockwood Sustainable Solutions, and Mycocycle.”
