The Reality of Recycling Vinyl Siding
So, I know that the vinyl siding institute promotes the recyclability of vinyl siding, so I set aside all the siding that we stripped — but the closest location on the VSI site is about 30 minutes away and is drop-off only, and since we don’t have a truck / trailer, dropping off a house worth of siding in any of the vehicles we have would take a lot of trips and a lot of cutting up siding into shorter pieces. I’m in the Cleveland area, not like it’s the middle of nowhere…
Is vinyl siding recycling something that actually happens with a majority (or even a significant percentage) of siding removed? I imagine most actual contractors have trucks or trailers that could carry it all in one load, but I also can’t imagine most contractors making an hour round trip to dispose of waste especially if there’s a dumpster on-site already.
Has anyone (in the northern Ohio area) had luck getting vinyl siding picked up for recycling or reuse?
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Replies
Jonny,
Good questions; I hope someone in your area has answers.
A little background: the familiar recycling symbols found on the bottom of plastic containers were a PR invention of the plastics industry, which hoped to deflect attention from the fact that almost no plastic is recycled. It was, for the most part, an industry scam. More info here: "How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled."
I agree, this is a good question. And I am going to put it to Fernando Pages Ruiz, who is a big proponent of vinyl siding, in large part because of its recyclability. Hopefully, he will share some thoughts . . .