IRN Establishes Partnership with Armstrong Ceiling Systems

Armstrong Ceiling Systems and the Institution Recycling Network have announced a partnership that will provide more recycling opportunities for old acoustical ceilings tiles from renovation projects.

Armstrong offers a Ceiling Recycling Program that enables commercial building owners to ship ceilings from renovation projects to an Armstrong ceiling plant as an alternative to landfill disposal.

Under the program, Armstrong even pays freight costs for shipping the old ceilings, which it uses as raw materials in the manufacture of new acoustical ceilings. 

Headquartered in Concord, NH, the IRN is a cooperative recycling organization that works with about 100 colleges, universities, hospitals and other institutions throughout New England to improve the performance and economics of their recycling programs. 

Under the provisions of the new agreement, IRN will manage the packaging, consolidation and transportation of old ceiling tiles from IRN members' renovation projects and coordinate their shipment and recycling by Armstrong.

According to Anita Snader, Armstrong Associate marketing manager, "The new partnership will have a beneficial impact on the environment because it provides Armstrong with the opportunity to offer ceiling recycling to those who would normally not be able to establish a direct recycling relationship with Armstrong."

Since it introduced the program in 1999, Armstrong has already recycled over 14,000,000 square feet of discarded ceiling tiles that would normally have been dumped in landfills.

The program involves three steps.  First, a building owner must verify that the old acoustical ceiling panels can be recycled. The old ceilings do not have to be Armstrong products to qualify. 

Following verification, the owner must then stack the old ceiling tiles on pallets and wrap them for pick-up. Once there is a full trailer load (at least 30,000 square feet) of old ceilings, the owner needs to call for a truck to pick up the material and transfer it to the nearest Armstrong manufacturing facility.

Under the new relationship, IRN will handle all aspects of the program for its members -- verification, collection and packaging, and coordination of the shipment to Armstrong.  "This is part of our core mission," IRN's Lennon states.  "We want to make it simpler for our members to recycle, and to let them recycle more materials through a single contact."