Armstrong Recycles 20 Million Sq. Ft. of Discarded

Lancaster, PA, November 29--Armstrong World Industries today announced that its Ceiling Recycling Program has now diverted more than twenty-million-square-feet of old acoustical ceiling tiles from landfills. Based here with a plant in St. Helens, Oregon, Armstrong is the country's largest producer of ceiling tiles. Since it introduced the recycling program in 1999, the company has reclaimed 20,088,000-square-feet of discarded ceiling tiles, or enough tiles to cover 349 football fields. This total also represents 14,062,000 pounds, or nearly 7,100 tons, of construction waste that would have normally been dumped in landfills. The program, which is still the only one of its kind, enables building owners to ship old ceilings from renovation projects to an Armstrong ceiling plant as an alternative to landfill disposal. Under the program, the company even pays freight costs for shipping the old ceilings, which it uses as raw materials in the manufacture of new ceilings. The old tiles do not have to be Armstrong products to qualify for the program. "The recycling program is designed to help our customers reduce their impact on the environment by redirecting used ceiling tiles from landfills back to Armstrong," explains Joann Davis Brayman, vice president of marketing. "It offers a valuable end to what typically would have been thrown away." In conjunction with the announcement, Armstrong presented a special environmental award to Nike, Inc. and the architectural firm of Thompson Vaivoda & Associates of Portland, Oregon in recognition of Nike's ceiling recycling efforts. The company recently recycled over 100,000-square-feet of old ceiling tiles at its Beaverton, Oregon headquarters. The discarded tiles were shipped to the Armstrong ceiling plant in nearby St. Helens. The St. Helens plant is the destination point for all ceiling tiles collected on the west coast. "Environmental consciousness guides all aspects of our business, including facilities," states Jim Petsche, director of corporate facilities at Nike. "As a result of our commitment to implement green design and environmentally friendly practices, we believe we are helping our community and the world by building with nature in mind." Other organizations around the country currently participating in the ceiling recycling program include Microsoft, Pfizer, Food Lion, the World Bank and the School District of Philadelphia.