GREENMANTRA has combined technology with sustainability to create an advanced recycling process that depolymerizes waste plastics to produce a special wax additive. GREENMANTRA’s CERANOVUS Series A wax can be used to make a number of green construction materials like asphalt roofing shingles, membranes and underlayments.

As the weather starts to break, you might notice that the upper level of your home is warmer than downstairs. You’ve probably just grown to accept it because you’ve always been told that heat rises. While the fact that hot air rises is scientifically sound, the temperature disparity actually has more to do with the energy-efficiency of your roof. Companies like GreenMantra Technologies have combined technology with sustainability to create eco-friendly asphalt roofing shingles that save energy in more ways than you think.

Since 2010, GreenMantra has been advancing the circular economy by transforming post-consumer and post-industrial plastics into value-creating waxes and polymer additives that provide a stable, environmentally sound, outlet for waste plastics. The innovative manufacturer has pioneered a technology that breaks down recycled plastics to produce a special wax additive that can be used to make a number of green construction materials like asphalt roofing shingles, as well as membranes and underlayments that sit underneath the shingles for weather proofing.

The wax GreenMantra uses for roofing, CERANOVUS A series wax, has several performance, cost-savings, and operational advantages over traditional asphalt roofing. Shingles made with CERANOVUS A Series wax have improved thermal stability, impact resistance, and increase adhesion performance at low and high temperatures. For roofing projects, increased adhesion to plywood combined with thermal stability are critical properties to enhance overall durability and resistance to deformation from seasonal temperature fluctuations. This is especially important in Canada, which has drastic seasonal temperature swings and must account for an average daily temperature of -5.6°C across the country.

With GreenMantra’s innovation, the thousands of tons of plastic film and grocery bags that North Americans discard every year have a chance to help Canada reach its net-zero emissions targets. Wax is traditionally made from feedstocks such as oil and natural gas, but when plastic waste is being used as feedstock it reduces the reliance on these resources.

Other Canadian companies are also considering plastic on a molecular level and repurposing them into new composite material. For example, ReGen’s technology is capable of shredding, grinding, and granulating all types of plastics, that normally could end up in landfills, into useful new feedstock. The aggregate feedstock is then pushed through a hopper that moulds new construction blocks that are as solid as cement but 30% lighter, fireproof, and mold-resistant. Through stewardship programs like Bag Up Manitoba, Take Pride Winnipeg, and the Hefty®EnergyBag® program, plastics are seamlessly taken to ReGen and processed into new products. ReGen’s composite material is also useful to companies like Rivalries Corporation that rely on renewable aggregate feedstock to produce recycled plastic lumber for eco-friendly building and repair projects.

The demand for these green construction solutions demonstrates how presumed end-of-life plastics can play an exciting role in next-generation green infrastructure and beyond.

 


Source: Getting Plastics Right: View Full Article