FACT SHEET
Recycling the Air-Supported Roof at BC Place
About the roof
The 720,000 square feet air-supported roof is made primarily of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
fabric, a Teflon coated fiberglass material that does not breakdown easily in landfills.
The roof also comprises a mesh inner PTFE liner which is separate and will also be recycled.
The durability of PTFE makes it ideal for repurposing, and smaller pieces of PTFE may be heat
welded together into larger ones, allowing for nearly 100% reuse, and diversion from landfills.
Used PTFE is frequently recycled into products such as agricultural tarps, movie screens,
billboards, gym floor covering – and even waterproof barriers like pond and ice rink liners.
What Happens After the Roof Deflates?
Almost 96 per cent (690,000 square feet) of the 720,000 square foot roof will be trucked to a
company called Billboard Tarp Warehouse (BTW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it will be
recycled with negligible waste.
BTW’s customers in North America and Africa order an average 5,000,000 square feet of similar
fabric each month.
24,000 square feet (about three per cent) of the roof’s PTFE fabric will be set aside for use as a
permanent ice rink liner in Celista, BC (northeast of Kamloops), replacing a poly liner they use now,
which needs to be changed annually. Some of the material will also be set aside as roof covering
for rink storage areas. (
www.celistarink.org)
A portion of fabric will be donated to the BC Sports Hall of Fame for use in an upcoming
fundraising program, where the public will have an opportunity to acquire a piece of BC history.
A small remaining quantity of the PTFE material (less than one per cent) will be kept by
BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) for internal and marketing purposes.
The mesh inner liner from the roof fabric may be recycled into products like shade tarps and soil
erosion barriers.
The steel cables that have shaped the air supported roof at BC Place since it was first inflated in
1982 will be sent to ABC Recycling in Surrey, BC for recycling.
(CONTINUED)
FACT SHEET
Fabric Removal, Shipping and Processing
Burnaby-based Pacific Blasting and Demolition will demolish the roof structure and remove the
fabric.
The PTFE fabric will be carved into sections using curved cutting blades, following cutting lines
defined by the roof’s supporting steel cables.
Large sections will drop onto the concrete floor, and will be cut into smaller sections for handling
and shipment.
The inner mesh fabric will be separated from the PTFE fabric and packaged independently.
Up to six trucks will transport the load to BTW in Minneapolis, with each truck carrying
approximately 24 pallets (40,000 lbs) of fabric.
Once received, unpackaged and inspected by BTW, any holes or tears in the fabric will be patched
before the fabric is seam welded, cleaned and repackaged on pallets for customer delivery.
-30-
Media contact:
Trevor Pancoust
604.646.3567
http://www.bcplacestadium.com/newsreleases/2010-05-04_FACTSHEET-Recycling_BC_Place_Roof.pdf
Prev
We could convert it in to the largest IMAX ever~ Would be nice to have one, anyways...
Linear Mode
