Recycled roofing battens? You can put your house on it!

The roofing industry is leading a green construction revolution thanks to an innovative new roofing batten made from i-plas, the ultimate recycled building material. Roofing battens are used around the world for fixing roof tiles and slates in place on roofs. Traditionally roofing battens are made from wood, but now i-plas has created a completely new recycled roofing batten made from plastic.

Around 100,000 new homes were built during 2008, meaning that if the construction industry adopted the new recycled roofing batten, millions of tonnes of waste which was destined for landfill could be recycled and put to good use.

To produce the roofing battens, i-plas has acquired a unique extruding machine, specifically commissioned from specialists in America, which allows the production of roofing battens from 100% recycled plastic. The carousel extrusion machine will produce battens that allow the replacement of traditional wooden battens with alternatives that outperform them, are cost competitive, last longer and are environmentally friendly.

The water cooled machine is the first of its type in the UK and provides further momentum towards the use of recycled building materials within the construction industry. It is capable of producing one million metres of recycled plastic per annum, or enough to roof many thousands of standard homes. Importantly, one million metres per year would save the equivalent of 1500 tonnes of plastic waste from being sent to landfill.

In addition to roofing battens, the machine can also produce nailer boards for use in formwork and false work, with excellent nail retention and screw pull-out properties, again questioning the need for the use of timber in future construction and building projects. Environmentally friendly construction is beginning to gather pace in the UK, but still lags behind Europe, where legislation is in place that bans the use of timber on non-cosmetic building applications.

Howard Waghorn, Managing Director of i-plas, commented: “The new i-plas roofing battens and nailer boards are truly innovative uses for recycled plastic. Not only are they better for the environment but they out perform the previous wooden varieties too. I-plas has made a major investment in production equipment and offers the construction industry a further, genuine alternative, to the use of traditional materials. Timber roofing battens are used in the vast majority of domestic homes and a large number of commercial premises, meaning we can make a real difference to the environment with virtually every new premise that are constructed.