www.martinmarietta.com | January/February 2 2020 The Conveyor 13
Texas Teams
Share Sustainable
Practices During
Meeting with
Mexican Officials
A company site in San Antonio
recently served as the backdrop
for a gathering of officials intent on
furthering sustainable business practices
along the United States’ border with Mexico.
The meeting, which took place at Martin
Marietta’s Beckmann Quarry, was attended
by representatives from the Border Affairs
Division of the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) – the state’s
environmental agency, and from the Coahuila
Secretariat of the Environment – a comparable
department that regulates environmental
matters in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
According to the TCEQ, the agencies
have long worked together to improve
environmental conditions along the border
and, in August, signed a four-year agreement
that aims to “increase the exchange of
knowledge, experience and technology
related to protecting human health and
the environment.”
Environmental Services Manager Kevin
Stone is based in the Southwest Division’s
Central Texas Aggregates District Office in
San Antonio and, working with District Vice
President-General Manager Bill Podrazik and
Beckmann Plant Manager Jeremey Smith,
helped coordinate the Dec. 5 event.
“The main topic of our meeting was
concrete crushing and recycling,” Stone
said. “Companies in Coahuila have been
doing a great deal of demolition in recent
years and sending the material directly to
the landfill, which is incredibly wasteful. Our
aim was to show how concrete recovered
during the demolition process can be
crushed and reused as base material and
other valuable products.”
Stone said meeting participants spent
more than 30 minutes listening to a
presentation by Southwest Division Quality
Control Manager Mark Huffman and others
and then toured the Beckmann facility,
which includes a ready mixed concrete
operation.
Senior Environmental Engineer Leslie
Mackay also represented Martin Marietta
at the meeting and said the tour allowed
members of the Mexican delegation to seek
clarification on some of the more technical
elements of the concrete crushing process.
“We were able to show them the portable
crusher we use to crush the concrete and
introduce them to several Spanish-speaking
members of our operations team,” Mackay
said. “It was really a great starting point
that we hope provided the group with
enough information to take back to their
businesses in Mexico.”
While the event is unlikely to yield any
substantial gains from a business perspective,
Mackay said the meeting was important
for other reasons.
“Sharing a border means we share
resources, so encouraging our neighbors to
operate in an environmentally friendly way is
beneficial to everyone,” she said. “Martin
Marietta has developed some truly innovative
and sustainable business practices and
we’re grateful for the opportunity to share
that information.”
Podrazik praised the joint effort between
Martin Marietta’s local operations and
environmental teams and said that such
endeavors do much to strengthen the
company’s reputation.
“This was an exciting opportunity for us
to make a good impression with the TCEQ
while helping out where we can,” he said.
“We always want our governing agencies to
see that our people are professional. This
is the type of event that builds a great deal
of good will.” ▼
Members of the TCEQ and the Coahuila
Secretariat of the Environment learned
about concrete crushing during a December
tour of Beckmann Quarry.
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