Saint-Gobain North America, through its building materials subsidiary CertainTeed Roofing, achieved a 49% reduction in landfill waste over the past year at its Shreveport, La. site through the building of a new recycling area at the facility.

By taking steps in the design to segregate waste materials and mitigate cross-contamination, the facility has been able to increase its recycling scope, lowering the amount of material ending up in landfills. 

According to a news release, the Shreveport plant, which has been in operation for nearly a century, took a series of small steps that significantly reduced its environmental footprint. These steps included building containment areas made of steel reclaimed from on-site demolition projects to ensure waste could be properly separated and contained for recycling. 

“As leaders in light and sustainable construction, reducing our environmental footprint is a core part of our strategy. This project to reduce landfill waste can be replicated at other sites,” said Carmen Bodden, president of CertainTeed Roofing. “Congratulations to Shannan McKinnon and the entire Shreveport team for demonstrating how we Make the World a Better Home.”

The project, which was honored as a top sustainability initiative for Saint-Gobain North America in 2023, is part of the company’s continued efforts to implement its global Grow and Impact strategy. This strategy includes environmental sustainability goals, such as achieving zero waste-to-landfill across all Saint-Gobain locations.  

This project follows several other recent actions taken by the company to solidify its commitment to sustainability: This includes Saint-Gobain launching RenuCore, technology that enables the recycling of asphalt shingles to be reused in hot mix asphalt paving, last October.