SKOKIE, Ill. – On April 28, 2009, Roanoke Cement Company LLC, located in Troutville, Va., and owned by Titan America LLC, received the Overall Environmental Excellence Award from the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and Cement Americas magazine as part of the 2009 Cement Industry Energy and Environment Awards.  The award was presented at PCA’s Spring Meeting in Chicago.

PCA presents the Overall Environmental Excellence Award to a plant demonstrating merit in the five categories it recognizes:  Outreach, Environmental Performance, Land Stewardship, Innovation, and Energy Efficiency.  In addition to accepting this honor, the plant was a finalist in the Environmental Performance category and was a runner-up in the Energy Efficiency category.

The Roanoke Cement Company plant is keenly aware that increasing efficiencies in operations reduces its environmental impact.  The company has initiated several programs to meet its goal to reduce, reclaim and reuse wastes.  For example, it reuses 100 percent of its cement kiln dust (CKD) and is emptying its CKD landfill for use by local farmers.  For the past two years Roanoke Cement has been a receipt of the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR and in 2008 became an ENERGY STAR partner.  As an ENERGY STAR partner, all Titan plants will submit to independent energy efficiency monitoring that includes base lining, tracking, and benchmarking the company's energy performance.

Roanoke Cement was also awarded the 2008 Virginia Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellent for Land Conservation and was a 2007 PCA Finalist for Land Stewardship and Overall Environmental Program.

Surrounded by the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains, the plant and its employees participate in several environmental community events including a creek-clean up.

The Cement Industry Energy & Environmental Awards honor individual cement facilities that exemplify the spirit of continuous environmental improvement and support this spirit with action.  These plants go beyond government regulations and local laws to ensure that their processes contributed to making their communities better places to live and work.  

“Cement companies take very seriously their responsibilities to towns where their employees and customers live,” said Brian McCarthy, PCA president/CEO. “The awards program recognizes these ongoing efforts to continuously challenge manufacturing policies and procedures to minimize our environmental footprint.”

The awards program was created in 2000 by the Portland Cement Association as part of its renewed environment and energy strategic plan for the U.S. cement industry. PCA and Cement Americas magazine presented the first Cement Industry Environmental Awards in 2002 to the winners for 2001. The awards honor activities conducted during the previous calendar year, and the program is open to any cement manufacturing plant in North America.  Judges for the 2009 awards represent independent groups such as Cement Americas magazine, the Cement Association of Canada, the U.S. Geological Survey, National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Cement Sector Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program.

About PCA
Based in Skokie, Ill., the Portland Cement Association represents cement companies in the United States and Canada. It conducts market development, engineering, research, education, and public affairs programs. More information on PCA programs is available at www.cement.org.

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