Our Impact
Why The Need for an Eco-Friendly Wash Plant?
As the construction industry increasingly prioritizes environmental sustainability, eco-friendly practices are rapidly transitioning from a desirable attribute to a minimum requirement. Three areas where this is even more apparent today include:
Pollution: The construction industry is a major contributor to pollution, resource depletion, and waste. By promoting eco-environmental awareness, the industry can reduce its impact on the environment and help preserve natural resources for future generations. By offering a local and convenient solution for construction companies, Eco Materials’ new wash plant can play a vital role in mitigating the environmental impact of construction practices. By renewing materials, Eco Materials helps keeps them out of landfills. The renewed materials also help to offset resource depletion, through mining, or harming existing lands in their extraction. The world consumes 50 billion tons of sand each year, making it second only to water as one of the highest consumed materials, according to a United Nations report.
Health and safety: Many construction materials and practices can be harmful to human health and safety, both for workers and for the general public. By prioritizing eco-friendly materials and practices, the industry can help minimize these risks. The materials that Eco Materials provides back to the construction industry have been thoroughly washed and renewed, and meet stringent EPA requirements for construction, and landscaping materials.
Regulatory compliance: In most regions, there are strict regulations and standards around environmental protection and sustainability in the construction industry. Companies that prioritize eco-friendliness are more likely to meet these standards and avoid legal and financial penalties. By using certified materials that are safe for the environment, companies can stay in compliance with laws and regulations. Eco Materials seeks to help companies succeed in this regard as well, by providing materials that are approved for use by the PADEP.
A Better Option Than Taking it to a Landfill.
“The creation of landfills typically means destroying natural habitats for wildlife. The average landfill size is 600 acres. With over 3,000 active landfills in the United States, as much as 1,800,000 acres of habitat have been lost.”
– University of Colorado, Boulder
Environment Impact of a Wash Plant
When in full operation, the plant will process about 2,000 tons per day of different materials. That’s 2,000 tons of material that would otherwise be headed straight for the landfill. To put it into perspective, a large dump truck can carry about 20 tons of dirt. If you lined up the 100 trucks needed to transport 2,000 tons, that would create a nearly half-mile convoy of trucks diverting materials away from a landfill.
Besides the many environmental benefits already discussed above, there are a few others worth mentioning:
- Full Water Recycling and Rainwater Reclamation. Using recycled rainwater as a source for it’s washing water, Eco Materials will also have a full water recycling facility in place at its new plant operation. By using recycled rainwater as a source for its washing water and implementing a water recycling facility, Eco Materials is helping to conserve the region’s limited water resources.
- Reduction in Water Pollution. Traditional industrial processes can contribute to water pollution, but by implementing a closed-loop water system, Eco Materials will be able to reduce the amount of wastewater it produces and prevent pollutants from entering local waterways. The wash plant also has a process for capturing ferrous metals, another waste material that gets recycled rather than ending up in landfills. Say’s Andrew Paluszkiewicz, “Our plant has its own wastewater treatment plant. So we never discharge any water into the municipal sewer system.”
- Water Reuse. Engineers have designed a subsurface water catch basin that will capture and reuse stormwater to contribute to the water demand of the wash plant. The design allows for capture of up to approximately 200,000 gallons of stormwater runoff from each storm event. This reuse is anticipated to reduce stormwater discharge to City sewer infrastructure and reduce the demand on the public water supply by 10%.
- Improving Air Quality. The Eco Materials process for washing materials is water based, so it is a dust-less process, contributing to a cleaner air quality.
- Ferrous Metals. The facility’s wash process employs magnets to capture ferrous metals (i.e., any metal that contains iron as its primary element), a small but valuable component (<1%) of the waste stream. This recovered metal is then recycled, diverting it from landfills and contributing to more sustainable practices.