Recycling has many benefits for the planet. It reduces landfill waste, saves energy and helps the environment. Brad Satran acknowledged all of those things, but he focused his Best of Success presentation on one thing: making money with recycling.
Satran, vice president of Interstate Roofing in Portland, Ore., shared the story of how his business reaped the benefits of recycling asphalt shingles and detailed what companies need to do to start their own recycling program. With shingles constituting the number one source of landfill volume, recycling makes sense from an environmental point of view, but it can also differentiate your company from the competition and show you care about the community. “It improves credibility and shows we care about more than ourselves and makes for a great talking and selling point,” he said.
Satran noted that 11 million tons of post‐consumer shingles and post‐industrial scrap are sent to landfills every year. Construction debris accounts for 5 percent of landfill volume, with asphalt shingles being the No. 1 source. As more and more homeowners become conscious of the benefits of recycling, these are the kind of statistics that can add punch to a sales presentation.
The first step in launching a recycling program is finding a recycling center, noted Satran. If there isn’t one close by, Satran urged contractors to do what he did — contact major manufacturers and start a recycling center in the area. He noted that in many cases, recycling is cheaper and easier than taking shingles to the local dump.
Satran emphasized the importance of marketing the service by signs on pieces of transportation equipment, making them rolling billboards. He also recommends putting signs on the dumpsters — including the front end, which is often visible when the dumpster is parked in a residential driveway.
Recycling not only gets the company leads, it increases profits because it is included as a line item on invoices. “Don’t give it away,” he said. “The customer will pay for it.”
“Recycling has really, really helped us. Sales have gone up and gotten better,” said Satran. “We have gotten so much praise and recognition for recycling and have received many awards. Recycling to our business has been absolutely phenomenal.”
For a link to the on-demand video webinar of Brad Satran’s entire presentation, visit www.RoofingContractor.com.
