Sources: R.W. Sidley Inc., Painesville, Ohio; American Concrete Corp., Des Moines; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
R.W. Sidley will mark Ohio’s first NRMCA Green-Star ready mixed concrete plant certification with an early-August flag-raising at its North Canton property. The producer’s display of the green & white flag follows the same rite at American Concrete, which in late May announced the first NRMCA Green-Star certified plant in Iowa. American has brought eight other properties under Green-Star certification, and plans program audits for its remaining 12 ready mixed sites by the end of 2012.
NRMCA launched Green-Star certification in July 2008, with Transit Mix Concrete & Materials, Seven Points, Texas, the inaugural plant. The program is a plant-specific certification that uses Environmental Management Systems (EMS) as a tool for benchmarking and continual improvement, and as a means to recognize those who adhere to essential principals of the industry’s environmental and sustainability movement. The EMS is based on a model of continual improvement and other practices widely recognized throughout the industry and government for spelling out goals and targets. The program has grown to 224 plants in 30 states; two foreign plants have also reported successful Green-Star audits.