Environment
Caring for our environment
To continue to operate successfully, we must act responsibly, being a good neighbour and good corporate citizen.
Our operations include extracting aggregates and sand, which requires that we progressively restore the environment during the quarry’s life, with final rehabilitation after quarrying has finished. Our other activities, include manufacturing cement, concrete, concrete block, asphalt and concrete pipe and other pre-cast concrete products. These, with quarrying, can potentially impact on the environment through the release of process water and stormwater, spills of liquids such as petroleum products, stack and dust emissions as well as noise and ground vibrations.
We have rigorous management systems to minimise the possibility of impacts occurring.
Our environmental management system
Our safety, health and environment (SHE) management system is based on high environmental standards. The Rinker board’s SHE committee closely monitors our performance in managing workplace safety and protection for the environment.
The environmental component of the management system helps identify and manage potential environmental risks. Operations are assessed against the requirements of our standards and improvements made.
Environmental reporting
We report environmental incidents based on five levels of severity: (1) minor, (2) significant, (3) serious, (4) severe and (5) extreme. Each year, we report our environmental incidents in our annual report. We have increased our focus on accurate reporting of minor incidents meaning that we are even more aware of our operations potential impact – however small. This increased focus is to help identify actionable trends and improvement opportunities to prevent more significant incidents.
Audits are integral to our SHE management system, to ensure our operations are meeting our internal standards as well as external regulatory requirements. Such checks identify site issues so that corrective action is taken to improve performance and ensure legal compliance.
Improving environmental performance
We believe that, as well as complying with the law, we should be progressively reducing the environmental impact of our operations, especially the amount of energy and water we consume and the amount of waste and carbon dioxide emissions we generate.
In our US operations, Rinker Materials produces cement and cement based products. We are actively working with the Portland Cement Association to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption.
Our two cement mills in Florida, at Miami and Brooksville, use state-of-the-art technology for emission controls. Our third mill, to be built in Brooksville, will use the best available emission reduction technology to control emissions. All of our cement mills use low sulphur coal as their primary fuel and we are recycling used vehicle tyres, which burn more cleanly than coal at high temperatures, as an additional fuel source.
Rehabilitating quarries
Quarries are restored to forms suitable to their surroundings once they have finished their economic life. The final form is chosen in consultation with the local community and government. The restoration process varies, depending upon the location of the site and the intended final use. Rehabilitation is progressive, with overburden material and topsoil stockpiled before aggregate mining begins.
When the time comes to restore the quarry, landscaping includes any necessary reshaping of the quarry walls then spreading the overburden and covering it with topsoil. Computer models are used to manage the land forming. In non-urban sites, native grasses, trees and shrubs are then planted, restoring the appearance of the sites, preventing soil erosion and encouraging birds and animals.
Our quarries have been, or are being, restored as wildlife parks, wetlands, recreational areas, gardens, residential developments, industrial or commercial estates – even golf courses. One of the best-known examples is the Sydney Olympic rowing course for the 2000 Olympic games, created by the Penrith Lakes Development Corporation of which Readymix is a major shareholder. We have won numerous awards over the years for our quarry management and rehabilitation efforts.
Our people partner with environmental protection agencies and local schools to restore scrub and wetland habitats and also participate in restoring endangered species habitats.
Recycling and waste management
We continually look for opportunities to recycle waste where it cannot be eliminated. Many of our concrete plants reprocess excess concrete returned from jobs, as construction fill.
We strive to maximise water recycling. At our concrete plants, for example, we reuse stormwater and process water for washing out trucks. Also, where materials specifications make it possible, we reuse the recycled water in concrete mixes. At our quarries, we use recycled process water and stormwater for suppressing dust.
Rinker Materials has fitted Envirowash equipment to concrete trucks in Arizona and Nevada to collect water used to clean pouring chutes after delivery, for recycling. The wash system enables drivers to clean their concrete chutes without the need for job site concrete washout areas.
At our Miami cement mill, we commercially operate an environmental service which processes petroleum contaminated soils as part of the cement manufacturing process.
At Penrith quarry, west of Sydney, Readymix is gearing up to reprocess 50,000 tonnes (55,000 tons) a year of excess concrete from all of our Sydney plants. The waste concrete will be processed to reclaim 85 per cent of the original concrete as sand and aggregate.
Environmental awards and activities
We receive many awards for our environmental efforts. Some of our more recent awards are listed below.
In the US, the National Stone Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) recognised Rinker Materials’ Dogwood quarry, Georgia, with its 2005 National Stars of Excellence Award. As well, the NSSGA presented our Florida Brooksville quarry and Davenport sand mine with its Environmental Silver Eagle Award.
Rinker Materials West received the Arizona Governor’s Award for Energy Efficiency, for the company’s use of an innovative combustion catalyst system on its diesel generators to save fuel and reduce air emissions.
In Australia, Readymix was presented with three awards in the Victorian Department of Primary Industries’ inaugural Strzelecki Awards for sustainable development in the earth resources industries for Karkarook Park, a rehabilitated sand mine joint venture.
Commerce Queensland and the Brisbane City Council both rewarded the people at our Tivoli quarry with environmental awards for their efforts in rehabilitating Sandy Creek in south east Queensland.
The Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia industry association bestowed 13 state based environmental excellence awards on Readymix’s concrete operations.
Environmentally friendly products
In Florida, Rinker Materials is a major supplier of pervious concrete, for use in surfacing driveways and parking areas. The concrete’s porous structure allows rain water to pass directly through the pavement and into the ground, reducing problems with stormwater runoff.
The Rinker group manufactures a range of innovative pre-cast concrete/fibreglass devices, installed underground, that remove oil and sediment from stormwater from roads and car parks, so that clean water flows into waterways. They are sold as Stormceptor™ in the US and Humeceptor™ in Australia.
Partnerships
In the US, Rinker Materials has formed several partnerships with organisations to help contribute with our broader environmental efforts. Some of these are:
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The Nature Conservancy Audubon of Florida The Arthur R. Marshall Foundation The Florida Earth Foundation |
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