Taking a break in the woods at IRE 2024

By Emma Peterson. 

At the 2024 IRE, Malarkey brought live trees into their booth. Learn about what their IRE forest has to say about their sustainability goals. 

Part of the joy of attending tradeshows and conventions is seeing the variety of booths present. The industry truly goes above and beyond to make it both a fun and informative experience. This year’s International Roofing Expo (IRE) was no exception; from watching a powerlifter to wandering the woods, attendees had a variety of booths to explore. Lauren White, RCS editor, got the opportunity to be amongst the trees and talk to District Sales Manager, Ben Rucka and Vice President of Sales, John Rabung of Malarkey Roofing Products, about the company and their latest sustainability initiatives. 

John explained that the trees were a way to communicate Malarkey’s dedication to sustainable practices in the industry. He elaborated, “We look at sustainability from a couple facets right now. It's the raw materials that we're using with upcycled tire rubber and plastics, but it’s also on the manufacturing side.” In their manufacturing sector, Malarkey supports sustainability by having all of their plants get Green Circle certified. Green Circle is a third-party organization that measures the amount of waste a place diverts from a landfill. John shared some of the details of what it takes to get that certification, “To be Green Circle certified, you need at least 80% of waste diverted. All our plants are 92% to 94% diversion and we're driving towards 100% on that.” 

Ben also shared some impressive numbers regarding the impact of their shingles on landfills and the environment, saying, “Since we've started these efforts with our polymer modified asphalt using upcycle materials, we've saved 6.5 million tires from the landfill.” In addition to diverting waste from landfills, Malarkey also incorporates granules into their shingles that have the same smog-fighting power as a tree. Ben explained, “From the smog-reducing granules that we've been putting in every shingle, we've planted the equivalent of 1.5 million trees.” This is what motivated Malarkey to bring live trees from Oregon to IRE, to show what their shingles are capable of. To put all these numbers into a bit of context, for a single, average roof of 30-squares, Malarkey is “saving five tires from the landfill, 3,200 bags from the landfill and planting two-to-three tree equivalents.” 

To learn more about Malarkey and sustainable industry practices, watch the full interview!