Two companies in Oregon, Hooker Creek Companies and River Bend Sand and Gravel, have collaborated to start a new recycling program to manufacture asphalt pavement from recycled roofing shingles.

The recycling program collects asphalt roofing shingles from three manufacturers in Portland to be shredded and used in asphalt plants located in Salem and Bend. The asphalt will contain 5 percent shingle and will be used to pave driveways and some roads.

The Oregon Department of Transportation uses about 30 percent recycled asphalt in its pavement, which is currently recycled from old asphalt.

Using asphalt shingles to produce asphalt is not standard, and the recycling program is the first of its kind in Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Equality and Environmental Quality.

Todd Scholz at Oregon State University’s school of civil construction engineering is testing the impact of recycling shingles into pavement, including shingles torn from roofs.

“The asphalt used to manufacture shingles is a lot harder than what is put into roads,” Scholz told the Statesmen Journal. “It makes the mix stiffer, depending on how much you use. At really cold temperatures or springtime temperatures, you don’t want the asphalt to be too hard—otherwise it cracks.”

Although the recycling operation is not currently using torn-off shingles, the construction division manager for Hooker Creek Companies, Dave Vogt, hopes to expand the program to include these, according to Orgegon’s Statesman Journal.

Vogt told the Statesman Journal that he is working to get the state’s approval for shingle recycling in pavement.