Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc. ("Central Concrete"), a northern California business unit of U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ: USCR) ("U.S. Concrete" or the "Company") announced that it has adopted the CarbonCure Technology to further reduce the carbon footprint of its concrete mixes. This investment continues Central Concrete’s legacy of designing and delivering high-performance, low-carbon mixes.
"Central Concrete has always been a leader in the ready-mixed concrete industry in setting the standard for the development of low-carbon concrete that exceeds the performance of traditional concrete," said Herb Burton, vice president and general manager, U.S. Concrete West Region. "By adopting the CarbonCure Technology, Central Concrete is again exhibiting its leadership and commitment to reducing the overall carbon footprint without sacrificing performance."
CarbonCure Technology: Recycled CO2 Yields Multiple Concrete Mix Benefits
A key opportunity for reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment is to reduce the cement content in concrete. By partnering with CarbonCure, Central Concrete will recycle waste CO2 as a fresh concrete ingredient. This allows the cement content of the ready-mixed concrete mix to be reduced while yielding numerous benefits, including: contributing to LEED v4 points, the ability to maintain the same concrete performance with a reduced carbon footprint, and boosting early-age-strength of concrete, with no changes to pumping, placing and finishing. The first phase of the roll-out, scheduled for the fall of 2018, will cover Central Concrete’s West Bay plants.
"The design community is actively working to transform the built environment by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Collaborative innovation between CarbonCure and Central Concrete gives us a new way to accelerate this sustainable transformation," said Frances Yang, structural sustainability specialist from Arup, San Francisco.
Central Concrete Sustainability Leadership
Recognizing that the built environment is the largest contributor to climate change, Central Concrete has taken a leadership role in making numerous investments in sustainability. These investments include:
- The Company has led the way in engineering higher-performing concrete than traditional concrete while significantly lowering carbon footprints with its low-CO2 mixes. Unlike traditional concrete, Central Concrete’s standard mixes deliver 50% or greater cement replacement materials, thereby significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the project under construction. Today thousands of Central Concrete’s mixes utilize 50% cement replacement materials, with some mixes utilizing up to 70% replacement materials, the CarbonCure Technology helps to further reduce the carbon footprint of these already low-carbon concrete mixes. CarbonCure Technology allows the additional reduction of cement and incorporation of recycled CO2, which further reduces the carbon footprint of these mixes.
- Central Concrete was the first ready-mixed concrete company in the United States to adopt Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). EPDs are an internationally recognized and independently verified standard for measuring a product’s environmental impact of a product over its life cycle.
- Central Concrete employs many sustainability practices within its operations. They include: measuring its own carbon footprint and emissions, monitoring and controlling air emissions, recycling unused concrete and the company-wide adoption of renewable diesel fuels for its mixer trucks. In 2016 and 2017, the total consumption of these petroleum-free fuels was just over 1.7 million gallons.
- Through the acquisition of Polaris Materials – by Central Concrete’s parent Company, U.S. Concrete – Central Concrete now has access to the highest quality aggregates, enabling Central Concrete to further reduce Portland cement content while maintaining performance.
For more information, view these references:
CarbonCure FAQ
CarbonCure Brochure
See related press release, "Central Concrete Introduces CarbonCure in the San Francisco Bay Area"
About Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc.
Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc., a business unit of U.S. Concrete (NASDAQ:USCR), has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area for 70 years. The company is recognized for engineering higher-performing concrete than traditional concrete while significantly lowering carbon footprints with its low-CO2 mixes. Unlike traditional concrete, Central Concrete’s standard mixes deliver 50% or greater cement replacement materials, thereby significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the project under construction. With 12 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Concrete offers multiple points of service to meet the diverse operational needs of its customers. For more information, visit: www.centralconcrete.com.
About CarbonCure Technologies Inc.
CarbonCure is the world leader in CO2 utilization technologies for the cement and concrete sector. Its retrofit technology chemically mineralizes waste carbon dioxide during the concrete manufacturing process to make greener and stronger concrete. The CarbonCure Technology is being used by over 100 concrete producers today to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint, create new production cost savings and gain a competitive sales advantage. For more information, visit: www.carboncure.com
About U.S. Concrete, Inc.
U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ: USCR) is a leading supplier of concrete and aggregates for large-scale commercial, residential and infrastructure projects in high-growth markets across the country. The Company holds leading market positions in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. and its materials have been used in some of the most complex and highly specialized construction projects of the last decade. U.S. Concrete has continued to grow organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions of independent producers in our target markets. For more information on U.S. Concrete, visit www.us-concrete.com.
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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains various forward-looking statements and information that are based on management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these statements and cautions you not to rely unduly on them. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding: the expansion of the business; the opportunities and results of our acquisitions; the prospects for growth in new and existing markets; encouraging nature of volume and pricing increases; the business levels of our existing markets; ready-mixed concrete backlog; ability to maintain our cost structure and monitor fixed costs; ability to maximize liquidity, manage variable costs, control capital spending and monitor working capital usage; and the adequacy of current liquidity. Although U.S. Concrete believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, among other matters: general and regional economic conditions; the level of activity in the construction industry; the ability of U.S. Concrete to complete acquisitions and to effectively integrate the operations of acquired companies; development of adequate management infrastructure; departure of key personnel; access to labor; union disruption; competitive factors; government regulations; exposure to environmental and other liabilities; the cyclical and seasonal nature of U.S. Concrete’s business; adverse weather conditions; the availability and pricing of raw materials; the availability of refinancing alternatives; results of litigation; and general risks related to the industry and markets in which U.S. Concrete operates. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those expected. These risks, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in U.S. Concrete’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including U.S. Concrete’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.
