Concrete Products and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) proudly announce the winners of the eighth annual Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards. To honor ready mixed producers demonstrating outstanding efforts to protect the environment and maintain sound management practices for plant and human capital, the program was initiated in 1995 by the Environmental Task Group of NRMCA's Operations & Equipment Maintenance Committee. The competition is open to any company operating a fixed plant in the U.S. or Canada. To be eligible, plants must have a record of operating in full compliance with federal, state and local environmental regulations for a minimum of two years. The criteria weighed by OEM/Environmental Task Group members include compliance, site aesthetics, written plant procedures, training and employee involvement, water/solid waste management, air quality management, community relations, operating challenges, overall management commitment, and environmental delivery awareness.

Entries contain written overviews of each item with photos illustrating air and water pollution control methods, noise abatement and landscaping. Judges select first and second place winners, plus honorable mentions where appropriate, in each of three categories designated by annual production volume: Category A — under 50,000 yd.; Category B — 50,000 to 100,000 yd.; and, Category C — more than 100,000 yd. Serving as judges for the 2002 Commitment to Environmental Excellence Awards program were Greg Fried of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.; Scott Hammersley of Newington Concrete Corp. in Newington, Va. (see separate report, page 12); Ken Medearis of the Montgomery County Maryland Department of Environmental Protection; Doug Ruhlin of Resource Management Associates in Forked River, N.J.; and, Greg Vickers, a Virginia-based representative for Schwing America.

In addition to a hearty congratulations for each of the award winners, NRMCA and Concrete Products would like to express their appreciation to the 20 companies who submitted a total of 23 entries — a significantly smaller number than we have received in previous years, perhaps due to the tumultuous events of 2001. To sustain the growth of this valuable program, all eligible companies are encouraged to enter their plants this year for recognition in the 2003 competition.

Category A
Under 50,000 yd. annual production

Second Place

Keys Concrete Industries
Ehren Cutoff Plant
Elfers, Florida

As longtime residents of Pasco County in which the Ehren Cutoff plant is located, the management of Keys Concrete Industries has a keen interest in promoting environmental excellence, commercial development, and community service through the operation of its newest ready mixed facility. To achieve these goals, the Ehren Cutoff plant has been outfitted with a batching system that requires less than 1½ minutes per load (see related story on page 26), a Touch Screen/PLC water control system for monitoring and regulating the flow of water and settlement throughout the plant, six dust collection devices with automatic return systems, television monitoring of all plant operations, and an overall design facilitating the efficient flow of both front- and rear-loading concrete mixers.

Built on the site of a vacated tree farm, the plant was designed to complement and, where possible, to enhance its natural setting. Accordingly, the decision was made to retain the maximum number of trees possible on the perimeter of the operational area. Further, exceeding the minimum requirements placed upon site construction by Pasco County, over five times as many trees, bushes, and shrubs were planted than stipulated by the county. Primary and secondary retention ponds mandated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were developed as two fully sodded and planted, irregular-shaped lakes to provide a source of reclaimed water for plant operations and environmental necessities.

Maintaining an efficient plant with a view to aesthetics and the natural environment is at least as challenging as the original design and construction. Thus, armed with what developers note is the most advanced water control system in the country, the plant applies its operational tools to environmental maintenance, programming vegetation watering using recycled water. For this purpose, a floating pump recycles the cleanest water from the primary pond to a water vault where a Touch Screen/PLC-controlled pump can be set for specific watering times, all subject to convenient modification and monitoring from within the batch office. Similarly, the components of the plant's water/solid waste management program — including a recycled water holding tank, floating pump, sediment sumps, and pretreatment pond — are integrated by the Touch Screen/PLC water-control system, cutting virgin water requirements by as much as 50 percent.

A - First Place

Glacier Northwest, Inc.
Dupont Ready-Mix Plant
Dupont, Washington

One of the newest operations of Glacier Northwest, Inc., the largest producer of ready mix in the Pacific Northwest, the Dupont Ready-Mix Plant occupies 2.7 acres of the 52-acre Pioneer Aggregates sand and gravel site. Three plant operators and 12 mixer truck drivers are responsible for running the wet batch plant and 15 concrete trucks that service customers throughout the south Puget Sound area. Since the plant opened in 1998, a perfect record of environmental compliance has been maintained by the efforts of well-trained personnel working in a highly conducive setting. The facility is entirely enclosed, minimizing the impact of plant operations — especially the effects of noise and dust — on the surrounding environment. The operating areas of the site are paved with concrete and sloped to direct both process water and incident stormwater to concrete catchments.

A set of environmental management plans governs the environmental practices at the plant. For day-to-day operations, the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan or SWPPP, Air Pollution Control Equipment Operations and Maintenance Plan, Monitoring Plan, and Emergency Spill Response Plan target water and solid waste management, air pollution control, facility monitoring, and emergency spill response. The plans detail practices for good housekeeping, preventive maintenance, facility and equipment inspections, process water and stormwater discharge monitoring, spill prevention and emergency cleanup, employee training, plan and procedure maintenance and distribution as well as recordkeeping and reporting.

Regular preventive maintenance inspections (PMIs) are performed by Glacier Northwest employees to increase the life of equipment and facilities, improve safety and reduce equipment downtime. Additionally, third-party audits are employed at a minimum of every three years to provide an objective assessment of environmental compliance and plant performance. A company-president's tour conducted annually includes a review of the environmental profile of the facility. Plant superintendents are responsible for conducting monthly reviews of environmental programs and documenting their findings for the corporate Environmental Department, which also performs periodic inspections to evaluate compliance and identify opportunities for improvement.

Routine monitoring of facility discharges as mandated by the NPDES/State Waste Discharge Permit is a significant part of Glacier Northwest's Dupont plant water and solid waste management program. Process water and stormwater are managed in accordance with Washington State Department of Ecology requirements, which comprise the conditions of its Sand and Gravel General Permit. As a facility that has been granted coverage under this permit, the Dupont plant is required to track discharge of process water and stormwater to waters of the State and report the results of monitoring on a quarterly basis. Accordingly, operational and source control best management practices to prevent stormwater pollution address several areas: vehicle and equipment washing, which is restricted to the truck washout station; spill and emergency response supplies maintained in readily accessible locations on the plant site; containment of process chemicals, including admixtures that are stored in bulk and maintenance supplies purchased in small quantities; and, outside manufacturing activities, including outdoor storage of raw materials, byproducts, and finished products. Since operations commenced in 1998, the plant has not exceeded regulatory discharge limits.

The design of the Dupont plant optimizes the use of water resources. Incident stormwater and process water generated by plant operations are first collected behind a weir that takes up 16,000 gallons of the 88,000-gal. primary settling basin. The overflow that passes the weir is used for truck washing or is recycled into the concrete batching operation through a smaller 6,000-gal. tank. Excess water is diverted to a 140,000-gal. clear water pond and then into the 24,000-gal. treatment tank. In the tank, acid is used to adjust solution pH prior to discharge to the water treatment system that serves the Pioneer Aggregate site. Demand that cannot be met by intercepted stormwater or through recycling can be satisfied by the on-site well or the City of Dupont. At this time, all water needs of the Dupont plant are satisfied through the use of recycled water.

The Dupont plant was furnished with state-of-the-art process control systems at the time it was constructed. The water treatment process control system provides water-level readings for the basins and tanks, along with status reports on pumps, valves, and safety controls and alarms. It also generates a read-out of pH in the treatment tank. With this system, the treatment process can be operated automatically to fill and treat collected process water and stormwater; however, discharge from the treatment tank requires operator intervention. Operating without failure since 1998, the system has generated readings that consistently match results obtained through independent, third-party discharge monitoring.

Like the water treatment process, air quality management at the Dupont facility is largely automated. To control air pollutants consisting primarily of fugitive dust and particulate matter produced by materials handling, a single C&W RA200 baghouse dust collector stationed next to the ready mix plant is operated from the plant control room. The 108 filter bags contained in the baghouse frame provide 2,000 sq. ft. of total filtration area. If a cement delivery driver fails to exercise his option of starting the baghouse locally, sensors in the transfer lines activate the system automatically. Warning lights and audible alarms in the immediate vicinity sound when the storage bins are close to full, and an over-pressure reading from bin sensors serves to close the fill gates before the bins can be filled beyond capacity. The baghouse is equipped with a Magnehelic pressure gauge, and the baghouse filters are changed if the gauge reads more than 8 psi.

Category B
50,000 yd. to 100,000 yd.

First Place

Transit Mix Concrete and Materials Co.
Plant #436
Texarkana, Arkansas

In view of its dramatic makeover since Transit Mix acquired the property from Texarkana Ready Mix in November 1999, company officials see Plant #436 as an excellent showcase for the Environmental Excellence Awards program. With the purchase of several adjacent acres of property and significant upgrades, the plant has transformed a contentious relationship with the community to one of peaceful coexistence. As good neighbors, to limit operations to the extent of the property line, an aggressive dust-control program was implemented: paving throughout the property and a reverse-air, recycling central dust collector boasting 99.9 percent filtering efficiency now dramatically reduce emissions. With the addition of a new washout pit, a huge stormwater pond and recycling pumps, all storm and process water is on a closed-loop system permitting stormwater discharge only on rare occasions. Additionally, the shop has been rebuilt along with an attractive fuel tank containment area that is within Arkansas code.

For water/solid waste management, water discharge controls comprise a significant part of the plant's Pre-Construction Environmental Plan determined prior to facility modification. Accordingly, the graded concrete slab that presently covers the majority of the site drains stormwater to the 100-yd. ∞ 30-yd. stormwater pond. A new three-bay washout pit installed on the back portion of the property receives some of the stormwater from that area and, in turn, drains to the huge stormwater pond. Water from the washout pit is pumped into the truck drums for rinsing; thus, truck drum rinse water is continuously recycled. In addition, by means of pumps set up at the washout pit and stormwater holding pond, water is continuously pumped to the plant for batching new concrete, thereby creating a closed-loop system. Rinse water from a truck-rinse platform installed near the front of the property drains to a three-bay water holding pit next to the plant and is also pumped directly into new batches of concrete.

No returned concrete is discharged into the washout pit. Instead, it is placed in a three-sided, concrete block wall holding area. The wet concrete is then “back dragged” with a front-end loader and placed in a temporary stockpile, which is readily sold as road base. When returned concrete is recycled as concrete block, steel block forms holding approximately ¾ cu. yd. each are filled to produce block that is used to build dividers between stockpiles.

In maintaining the high level of environmental compliance made possible by the redesign of Plant #436, best management practices (BMP) are instrumental. On a daily basis, both plant managers and employees follow a set of company guidelines to avoid environmental contamination that could be generated from the plant. Several areas are central to BMP training and implementation: (1) responsibility for cleaning out washout pits, cleaning gravel off pavement, inspecting baghouses and watering stockpiles; (2) responsibility for cleaning up spills; (3) emergency spill response; (4) cement/fly ash tanker driver loading responsibilities; (4) returned concrete and concrete blocks; and, (5) responsibility for proper operation of high-level alarms and sirens on silos.

B - Second Place

RMC Pacific Materials, Inc.
San Ramon Plant #238
San Ramon, California

When the San Ramon plant was constructed in 1963, it was surrounded by little more than acres of citrus trees. Since that time, a booming California economy has brought residential development and a hospital to within a block of the plant and an elementary school just down the road. Today, operating a clean, safe, and environmentally friendly plant is more important than ever. Accordingly, $100,000 was spent in 1998 on a new face-lift and plant upgrade. A stucco and wrought iron fence now surrounds the entire facility. With the addition of the new fence and landscaping, a paint scheme was selected to complement the neighboring businesses and homes. RMC Pacific Materials employs a local gardening company to maintain the landscaping and to plant new perennials every season. Paving throughout most of the yard contributes to a neater appearance as well as dust control. Once a week, a street sweeper is brought in to clean the grounds and the local truck routes leading to and from the plant.

All slabs, drainage channels and containment areas were designed and built to ensure compliance with the company's Storm Water Prevention Plan (SWPP). Part of the remodeling project in included the construction of a 6,000-gal. settling basin strategically placed to collect process and storm water. From the settling basin, water is pumped into two 10,000-gal. tanks to be recycled as batch water. In order to minimize the amount of wastewater generated, a small portion of clean storm water is directed away from the holding basin and discharged separately in accordance with the strict guidelines of the Water Resource Control Board. Procedures dictated by the SWPP for monitoring and testing storm water runoff involve sampling of discharged water and routine testing by independent laboratories.

Recycled water is used for spraying to control fugitive dust. Sprinklers on aggregate stockpiles and the central charging belt that fills the plant also help maintain air quality. Spray bars at load point suppression areas in conjunction with an enclosed loading site and a centralized dust collection system ensure clean loading of mixer trucks.

At San Ramon Plant #238, employee training and involvement are no less a priority than facility maintenance. Drivers and plant engineers attend monthly safety meetings, which cover such topics as Hazard Communication Training, Proper Washout Procedures, Spill Prevention, Mixer Roll Over, and Pump Safety. In addition to the monthly meetings, RMC hosts an annual safety meeting for its 120-plus drivers and 20 operating engineers. Keynote speakers have included representatives from Pacific Gas & Electric, the California Highway Patrol, and the Department of Fish and Game. Recently, an RMC Pacific Materials employee was awarded $500 for actions performed at the job site when a pump operator struck a power line. By applying what he had learned at a previous safety meeting, the employee was able to prevent an electrocution.

B - Honorable Mention

Chandler Concrete Co., Inc.
Swing Road Plant #102
Greensboro, North Carolina

When Chandler acquired the assets of Central Concrete Co. and the Swing Road facility on December 31, 1989, the environmental measures implemented at the six-acre plant built in 1972 comprised only a bag house on the silos. Since that time, local commercial and residential development as well as stricter environmental regulations prompted a considerable amount of work undertaken with the goal of establishing a production site to meet or exceed environmental and safety regulations. Company officials proudly report that their goal has been achieved.

At the main entrance to the facility, an attractive sign, new pavement, and “Lego” blocks cast with recycled concrete from the plant create an appealing entryway. Trees have been planted around the perimeter of the lot and grass along its front edge. A grate-covered trench was installed at the entrance to capture any run-off water and reduce tracking into the street.

Moving into the plant yard, a paved truck-staging area with a truck washout now replaces what was once muddy terrain. Paving produced from recycled concrete at the plant contributes to the overall design of the facility, which optimizes the collection and containment of all process waste water and stormwater at the site. In all, four concrete settling basins and an earthen lagoon have been constructed to hold water and remove solids. An underground piping system has been installed for recycling water from the final settling pond to the slump rack, reclaimer, and batch locations. The plant boasts zero discharge from the settling pits and rinse locations.

Equal attention is given to air quality management. Bag filters have been installed on the cement and fly ash silos as well as the cement/fly ash scale and the truck load point. The Chandler Environmental policy requires daily visual inspection of the bag houses by plant personnel and weekly inspection where each bag house is actually entered. Additionally, truck loading and batching sites are enclosed to further control fugitive dust. Sprinkling of unpaved roadways and the coarse aggregate stockpile as needed also minimizes dusting problems.

Category C
Over 100,000 yd. annual production

First Place

Ocean Construction Supplies, Ltd.,
A Lehigh Company
Granville Island Plant
Vancouver, British Columbia

The Granville Island Plant of Ocean Construction Supplies, Ltd. is in the spotlight. Situated off Georgia Strait dividing Vancouver Island from mainland Vancouver, the facility finds itself at the heart of a tourist destination attracting 8 million people a year — only slightly behind Disneyland's 11 million. Maintaining a part of the industrial history of the island is a responsibility that plant personnel gladly accept. The exigencies of environmental compliance and managing a competitive business, however, are not allowed to take a back seat.

To keep both neighbors and regulatory agencies satisfied, the Granville Island plant has invested in state-of-the-art environmental equipment. Implementing the first principle of Ocean Concrete's Water/Solid Waste Management plan — no waste product will be removed from the site — two reclaimers are in place to facilitate truck wash out and extract aggregate from leftover concrete that cannot be used in a nonspec mix or in the plant's concrete block program. All process water from washing out mixer trucks, recycling concrete or washing out the wet mix plant is contained in a closed loop. With 40,000 gallons of agitated process water stored in three tanks, an automated density-measurement system controls the blending of reclaim water and stormwater to achieve a target specific gravity of 1.05 in a fourth tank. Maintaining the blended process water at 1.05 allows the maximum amount of process water to be reused in the mixes produced and enables the plant to recycle 100 percent of all waste concrete and process water with no solid waste transported off site.

For water conservation — the second principle of the company's Water/Solid Waste Management plan — the plant site is trenched around its perimeter to capture all stormwater, which in Vancouver is substantial. Pumped to a 50,000-gal. settling pit, the water is primarily used as make-up water for the process water day tank. When weather is very wet or production slows down, excess stormwater from the pit is discharged to the municipal sanitary sewer system under a Waste Discharge permit from the City of Vancouver. To meet the conditions of the permit, the waste water is treated with carbon dioxide to bring pH to an appropriate level. The water is also sent through a Stormceptor oil/water/suspended solids separator that ensures the water discharged is clean.

Air quality is maintained largely through minimizing dust from the mixing process by means of a dust collector for the weigh hoppers and the charging of the plant drum mixer. In addition, all silo baghouses were recently replaced with cartridge-type dust collectors, providing a more efficient system that does not require the use of dust collector bags. Aggregate and sand are stored in large concrete silos loaded by conveyor from the top and reclaimed to the plant via a conveyor underneath. Finally, paving throughout the plant site virtually eliminates fugitive roadway dust.

The Granville Island plant is a good neighbor not only by virtue of environmental compliance. Because access to and from the facility is provided by a narrow causeway to Granville Island, its truck drivers must contend with a mix of commercial trucks, tourist buses, family cars, bicycles, and pedestrian traffic. A Certificate of Appreciation presented to the plant on behalf of the Canadian government attests to the courtesy and patience of the drivers while operating in one of the most popular tourist sites within the City of Vancouver.

C - Second Place

Central Concrete Supply, Inc.
Plant 1-2 Stockton Street
San Jose, California

Producing concrete in the San Jose area for over 50 years, Central Concrete Supply's Stockton Street facility comprises Plant #1, a Ross central mix batch plant capable of producing 300 yd. of concrete per hour, and Plant #2, a 150-yd./hour-capacity Con-E-Co dry batch plant. The site also includes a concrete reclaiming yard, a vehicle maintenance shop, the main administrative offices for Central Concrete Supply, and a concrete building materials store. There are 45 mixer trucks stationed at this facility. Located on a small, irregularly shaped site in a mixed-use neighborhood within a state that enforces highly stringent environmental regulations, the Stockton Street plant has overcome considerable challenges in meeting demand as the prime supplier of concrete for the renovation of the San Jose Civic Center and various urban redevelopment projects.

Through a Concrete Delivery Professional training program, each driver at the plant is familiarized with the company's strict reclaiming and recycling procedures. Upon returning to the yard with unused material on board, each Concrete Delivery Professional informs the shipper of the amount and age of the concrete, whereupon a determination is made either to reuse the product or place it in one of the reclaimers. The reclaimer at Plant #1 is used for two or fewer yards of returned concrete; loads of more than two yards are processed at the reclaimer yard. Solid waste is thus minimized as returned product is either stabilized and resold or aggregate is reclaimed for reuse in future concrete production.

After separating rock and sand from the returned concrete, the reclaimer at Plant #1 introduces the process water into a recycle system where it is used for future batching operations. At the reclaimer yard where larger volumes of material are processed and aggregate is also segregated for reuse, the process water is routed to retention ponds where solids are separated. The water is then pumped into a holding tank from which it is transported to the recycle system at Plant #1 for use in the batching process. At both plants and the reclaimer yard, process water is contained by virtue of grading and berms, which direct the process water into either the recycle system or lined retention ponds, allowing no process water to leave any of the sites.

State-of-the-art aggregate storage bunkers at Plant #1 eliminate the need for any ground storage of materials and contribute to air quality management. Also reducing the potential for dust emissions, Plant #2 employs overhead steel bins for aggregate storage. Additionally, the cement and fly ash silos at both facilities use dust collectors and tightly sealed hoses to deliver material to the silos, further minimizing fugitive dust. Each plant employs a central vacuum dust collection hood at the concrete loading hopper.

C - Honorable Mention

Glacier Northwest, Inc.
Seattle Plant
Seattle, Washington

Perched on the banks of the Duwamish River, Glacier Northwest's Seattle Ready Mix Plant is one of the busiest operations of the largest ready mix producer in the Pacific Northwest. Serving as headquarters for the Glacier Northwest Washington Division, the plant employs 114, including 80 mixer truck drivers, 12 plant operators and laborers, and 10 mechanics. These individuals are responsible for operating two wet batch plants and 55 mixer trucks that deliver product to customers throughout the Seattle area. In the day-to-day operations of this bustling enterprise in the heart of Seattle's industrial district, plant personnel make every effort to maintain a clean site, both for aesthetic reasons and to protect its greatest water resource — the Duwamish River, a salmon-bearing waterway that flows into Puget Sound. Sharing the river with its neighbors in the industrial district as well as private citizens who live on and make use of the waterway in addition to various species of wildlife that also make the Duwamish River home, the plant takes an active interest in protecting a primary water supply and transport route by which aggregate is delivered via barge to the facility. Thus, plant personnel work closely with local, regional, state and federal governing agencies, including the City of Seattle, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service, on permitting plant maintenance and improvements.

The Seattle plant has been designed and operates to capture generated process water and incident stormwater, preventing discharge of untreated water from the site. Stormwater and process water within the plant are collected and processed through a water treatment system before discharge to the Duwamish River or the King County municipal sewer system. The plant water treatment system acts primarily to adjust pH levels and remove solids from the collected process water and stormwater, resulting in discharge that meets applicable regulatory standards.

Process water and incident stormwater are first routed to concrete-lined basins and ponds located throughout the site. When full, these ponds are pumped to a main settling pond, the overflow from which passes into a clear water pond. Wastewater slurries and sludges from the main settling pond are pumped through a filter press that functions to separate solids from the entrained water, which also drains into the clear water pond. A 30,000-gal. wastewater tank to which water is pumped from the clear water pond then feeds the wastewater treatment system consisting of four 40,000-gal. treatment tanks and two 1,000-gal. acid feed tanks.

C - Honorable Mention

Rinker Materials
Lake Park Plant
Lake Park, Florida

In operation since 1956, Rinker Materials' Lake Park Plant has kept pace over nearly half a century with both the commercial development and the increasing environmental awareness across Palm Beach County. Located in an industrial area, the facility fits well within the surrounding complex of commercial and light industrial properties as no effort has been spared in implementing dust control measures, landscaping and site drainage improvements, including heavily sloped paving, concrete drainage structures and new operating equipment. Property owned by Rinker immediately west and adjacent to the plant is used to manage stormwater runoff and minor amounts of light process water, i.e., any fluids except truck washout waters. Trees, shrubs and/or sod form a screen around most of the plant perimeter, providing a visual barrier as well as dust and noise containment.

Since it first opened, the facility has been modified several times; it now produces over 100,000 yd. per year with relatively minor emissions or noise pollution — a combination that allows low operational visibility. In 1964, some structures were added or rebuilt. New conveyors, aggregate silos and an unloading hopper were introduced in 1972. The batch plant's aggregate bins were completely replaced in 1997. More recently, stormwater/wastewater management and operational improvements, such as the automatic truck wash and slump station as well as numerous concrete settlement basins, have been added to improve the efficiency and appearance of the Lake Park plant.

To maintain a high level of production with minimal impact on the community and immediate surroundings, employee training and involvement are given top priority. A Safety Compliance and Training Manual prepared by Rinker covers procedures for new hire training, progressive safety training, safety/health committees, periodic inspections, hazard communications, hearing conservation and other key areas of compliance. An employee award programs allows managers to award point certificates to workers demonstrating above-average levels of commitment to team efforts, projects, or even routine job responsibilities. Employee involvement is encouraged by means of an Environmental Awareness Hotline that may be used to anonymously report any spills, questionable practices, or environmental concerns.