Most alternative eco-friendly roofing materials, such as those which contain a high recycled content, are about three to four times the installed cost of asphalt shingles.  This is a hard sell for anyone, no matter how green you want to be.

There may be a reason to be optimistic for the future, however. Euroshiled Roofing’s EuroLite Slate is made from over 75% recycled materials – rubber tires! An average roof will utilize 600 to 1000 rubber tires. The installed cost of this material, which comes with a transferable limited lifetime warranty (non-prorated for the first 50 years), is actually comparable to the installed cost of premium asphalt shingles. This is unprecedented as far as eco-friendly roofing goes.

How green is it?  Well, those recycled car tires are certainly saving landfill space.  And the shingles themselves are 100% recyclable.

The main reason this product is more affordable than other recycled roofing options is it installs quickly and easily. It goes down in 40” x 17” panels which handle and install similarly to asphalt shingles, with some special design perks which are supposed to make it even easier.  Moral of the story is this isn’t a difficult roof to install and if your contractor is inflating the cost beyond what he would charge to install asphalt, then you may want to press him a bit on why.

Plus, it looks good.  Even up close it looks like slate, although it is much lighter.  From street level you’d have a real tough time telling the difference between recycled roofing and genuine slate.  The shingle is available in grey, black and brown.

The downside is the product is made in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with limited distributorship in the US.  They will ship product for a single building, but this could get mighty expensive.  Hopefully the company will secure more distributors in the US soon, because judging from the consumer searches for roofing material there is a healthy demand for eco-roofing.