Roanoke Cement Company’s Troutville plant on Catawba Road has been awarded Gold certification under the TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) rating system. Administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), TRUE helps facilities define, pursue and achieve Zero Waste goals while becoming more resource efficient.
“Zero waste is an important part of any company’s sustainability strategy,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO, US Green Building Council and GBCI. “Through TRUE, we’re helping companies like Roanoke Cement Company enhance operations in a way that is transforming our buildings and communities and improving our quality of life.”
Roanoke Cement was on its way last year when the plant earned TRUE Silver certification. “In order to elevate our TRUE Zero Waste certification, we ramped up our zero-waste policy to include, for example, physical audits of waste and improving recycling practices on-site,” says Lindsey Layman, Environmental Engineer. “As a result, we have created a zero-waste culture and achieved an average of 98.4 percent overall diversion from landfill, waste-to-energy incineration and the environment for solid, non-hazardous wastes.”
Facilities achieve certification by meeting program requirements and accruing points on an annual scorecard. Each site is then audited and must submit annual diversion data that demonstrates continuous compliance to achieve certification at four possible levels: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum.
From 2019-2020, Roanoke Cement earned an additional 21 points by tightening its practices in reuse, audit, training and local purchasing activities related to diverted materials. Diverted materials included plant waste (spilled clinker, cement or raw materials), cement kiln by-pass dust and solid municipal wastes.
“The TRUE Gold certification demonstrates the RCC team’s tireless commitment to continuously improving our recycling practices at the plant,” says Kevin Baird, President of Titan America’s Mid-Atlantic Unit. “The initiative could not be possible without the collective effort of every person at our facility. We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve together.”
About Roanoke Cement Company
Roanoke Cement Company is a subsidiary of Titan America, LLC, a leading heavy building materials producer in the eastern United States. Titan America is headquartered in Norfolk and its products include cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and fly ash beneficiation. Its parent company, Titan Cement Company, S.A., headquartered in Athens, Greece, is a signatory to the UN Global Compact, a group of companies committed to sustainable and socially responsible business practices.
About Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)
GBCI is the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally. Established in 2008, GBCI exclusively administers project certifications and professional credentials and certificates within the framework of the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating systems, as well as the Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES), TRUE Zero Waste certification, Parksmart, the PEER standard for power systems, the WELL building standard, EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies), Investor Confidence Project (ICP) for energy efficiency retrofits, RELi for resilient design and the GRESB benchmark, which is used by institutional investors to improve the sustainability performance of the global property sector. Through rigorous certification and credentialing standards, GBCI drives adoption of green business practices, which fosters global competitiveness and enhances environmental performance and human health benefits.
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