Eco-Friendly Siding Options: Sustainable Choices For Your Home

If You Care About the Environment, Consider a Truly Lasting Material

Picking new siding for houses leaves you with a lot to consider.

You can’t rely on a nursery rhyme or children’s game to make the decision for you; eeny-meeny-miny-moe won’t help here.

To find the right solution for your home, you’ll have to consider every factor: cost, durability, performance, and whether it’s an environmentally responsible choice.

Let’s take a look at the common kinds of siding for houses and whether each is eco-friendly.

Is Vinyl Siding Recyclable?

PVC – also called polyvinyl chloride – is the primary type of plastic found in vinyl siding. Although vinyl siding is recyclable, the process is challenging because of the material.

PVC plastic is denoted by recycling code 3. Plastic code 3 is one of the more difficult types of plastic to recycle. It can only be recycled in facilities equipped to handle it. Not every local facility can, which means if you want to recycle your old vinyl siding, you’ll have to look for a facility that accepts it and make plans to transport it there. If the facility is far away, transporting it isn’t environmentally friendly either.

You can, in theory, argue that vinyl siding is so long-lasting that you may never need to find somewhere to recycle it. Although that is true in some cases, this siding for houses is known to become brittle and crack. It also is susceptible to storm damage and fading. Although the majority of your home’s vinyl siding can still technically do its job, it doesn’t look good anymore and needs replacing sooner than you originally thought.

Ultimately, you’ll find that when you consider all these factors, vinyl siding doesn’t seem very eco-conscious.

The Facts About Metal Siding and the Environment

Aluminum and steel siding are recyclable at most local facilities. In fact, aluminum is an endlessly recyclable material that maintains its integrity over time.

But that doesn’t mean it’s eco-friendly. The carbon footprint of steel is 1.4 tons per produced ton of steel, according to the International Energy Agency. This is because metal manufacturing is a very complex process.

And what about that endlessly recyclable aluminum? A report by the Environmental Integrity Project found worldwide aluminum manufacturing emits more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide every year – a gigantic carbon footprint.

Then there’s the hidden costs of metal siding. Because certain types are quite heavy, it requires more fuel to transport it, whether that means shipping it new to the local supplier or bringing it back to a recycling facility.

Like vinyl siding, you can argue its metal counterpart is just as long-lasting. But you also have to take into account that it bends, dents, and eventually can develop rust. Bent-up, dented siding slabs don’t keep out moisture or offer adequate insulation for your home, so you could end up paying for home repairs or higher heating and cooling costs.

You Can’t Reuse Stucco Siding

A quick internet search will assure that stucco siding is recyclable, but it’s not quite that simple. Certain types of stucco that contain plastic polymers or that have been painted likely won’t be accepted for recycling, nor is it compostable, meaning it will break down over time and become soil when mixed with other decaying materials.

If you have pure stucco to recycle, you may be able to find a facility to accept it, but not everywhere can.

Broken chunks of stucco don’t work well for re-use either. While someone may be able to re-use the best pieces of your old steel or vinyl siding on an inconsequential structure like a garden shed, they can’t reapply used stucco.

Like the other kinds of siding we’ve discussed, stucco is a long-lasting material when it stays intact. But cracks and breaks are common, and certain repairs will leave you with pieces that your siding contractor has no other choice but to send to the landfill.

Long-Lasting Seamless Polymer Siding

Seamless polymer siding is made of polypropylene resin. Although it’s a type of plastic, it is more heat resistant and stronger than PVC vinyl. As a result, seamless polymer siding better resists warping, cracking, and breaking than its other plastic counterparts. It also doesn’t fade in the sun.

These qualities mean that with seamless polymer siding on your home, you won’t have to worry about whether you’ll eventually need to recycle it and upgrade it because it’s a lifetime investment that looks as good as it did the day it was installed, even years later.

But what if there’s an incredibly rare circumstance in which you need to recycle some? Polypropylene is denoted by plastic recycling code 5. Number 5 plastics are accepted at recycling centers in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and other major cities, according to their waste management websites.

Continental Siding Can Help You With an Eco-Friendly Solution

Since the early 1980s, Continental Siding has been manufacturing and installing our own seamless polymer siding, after our founder, Jerry O’Neal, realized it solved homeowners’ frustrations with traditional products. Because we make our own products right here in the U.S., we can help keep seamless polymer siding costs low and pass the savings on to our customers. Other siding contractors can’t do this.

More than 50,000 homeowners have chosen seamless polymer siding because it:

• Doesn’t easily warp, crack, or dent.
• Creates a watertight seal around your house to prevent moisture, mold, and mildew, so your family can breathe cleaner air indoors.
• Resists wood-boring insects, so you save on costly extermination treatments.
• Comes with our limited lifetime warranty for your peace of mind.

Learn how Continental Siding can help you LOVE YOUR HOME. Click here or call 1-800-533-3880 now for a FREE estimate.