Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.

Bringing the total number of NRMCA Green-Star certifications to 27, eight ready mixed plants have recently upgraded their environmental management system (EMS) practices to earn the one-and-a-half-year-old designation.

Aggregate Industries’ facilities in Belle Plaine, Minn., and Elkhard, Ind., were certified, making both the first in their respective states. Wisconsin and Illinois were also added to the rapidly growing list of states marking inaugural Green-Star operations, as Meyer Material Co. gained certification for its Kenosha and Streamwood plants, respectively. Bringing the number of states with certified plants to 15, Alabama's Ready Mix USA's Bessemer facility joined the Green-Star ranks. 

In addition, three other plants were added to the Green-Star list in states already featuring certified sites. Ready Mixed Concrete Co. adds two North Carolina facilities to the list, one in Hickory and the other in Denver, while Aggregate Industries brings in another Massachusetts plant in Grafton. This marks the sixth Green-Star-certified operation for Agg Industries, the first for its New England Region, which recently settled with the Environmental Protection Agency over stormwater permitting violations--although the Grafton plant was not named in the complaint.