Sika extends budget for higher polycarboxylate admixture output

Sources: Sika AG, Baar, Switzerland; CP staff The parent company of New Jersey-based Sika Corp. has announced further investment in polymer production capacity at its Sealy, Texas plant, the second such outlay in five years. The move will yield higher volumes of the chemical building blocks underpinning the ViscoCrete family of admixtures for self-consolidating, high slump and cement-optimized concrete mixes. …

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Code Council tracks Inflation Reduction Act-spurred EPD demand

Sources: International Code Council, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The International Code Council salutes provisions in the just-signed Inflation Reduction Act that will help communities update building energy codes and promote low-carbon construction materials. Building on last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ICC notes, the new law: • Serves up $1 billion to support codes and standards or local amendments…

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General Services Administration invites input on low-carbon concrete

Sources: General Services Administration; CP staff The agency overseeing much federal building development and construction has formally issued “Request for Information Regarding Concrete: Environmental Product Declarations and Low Embodied Carbon Products,” inviting EPD data and responses to a nine-point questionnaire at a dedicated portal. Over a two-week survey concluding March 1, the General Services Administration aims to gather information on concrete…

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ICF manufacturer turns to permeable pavements

Sources: Airlite Plastics Co., Omaha, Neb.; CP staff

The parent company of insulating concrete form brand Fox Blocks—successor to Arxx ICF and Reward Wall Systems—has acquired Houston-based TrueGrid, whose 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic system is promoted as an alternative to permeable or pervious concrete and asphalt pavements. Airlite Plastics will add the Lego-like, grass- or gravel-bearing grid to its Sustainable Construction Products Division offerings. 

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Sustainable construction drives new Global Cement & Concrete Association

Sources: Global Cement & Concrete Association, London; CP staff

The parent companies of CalPortland, Cemex USA, Holcim, Lafarge North America, Lehigh Hanson, Oldcastle Inc. and Votorantim Cement North America are among charter members of the Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA), dedicated to strengthening the sector’s contribution to sustainable construction and offering solutions to social challenges across the world.

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New ASTM standard supports recycling of fresh, returned concrete

Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff

ASTM Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates’ C1798, Specification for Returned Fresh Concrete for Use in a New Batch of Ready-Mixed Concrete, affords producers process, verification, and record-keeping procedures to lower stockpile volume or reclaimer throughput.

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