The Virginia Paving Company’s recycling program has been named the Most Outstanding Business Program for 2008 by the Virginia Recycling Association (VRA). “Virginia Paving is using recycled materials to eliminate waste and energy required to build and maintain many of Northern Virginia’s most traveled roadways,” said Dennis Luzier, district manager. “We are honored to be recognized for our efforts to improve, protect and enhance the environment.”
VRA is a leading resource of recycling information for the general public, the Virginia General Assembly and local governments.
“Virginia Paving received top honors because of its integrated waste management program involving reduction, reuse, recycling and buying recycled,” said John Irvine of Old Town, a company spokesman. “In two years the company recycled 250,000 tons of old asphalt, asphalt that went back onto Virginia’s roads instead of into Virginia’s landfills.”
The company also used two million gallons of recycled fuel oil, helping to reduce the industry’s dependency on virgin fossil fuels.
Since 2006, the facility has invested over $3 million to operate more efficiently and in the process eliminating thousands of tons of pollutants, Irvine said. The plant built a $500,000 storm water management system, planted 282 large trees and underbrush over two acres at a cost of $178,000, purchased seven new clean-emission Tier-3 dump trucks at $790,000, and installed high-efficiency cartridge mist collectors that capture plant emissions for $1.6 million, he added.
The Alexandria branch of the Virginia Paving Company, which he said employs 175 people, provides the surfaces in and around the city and on projects such as the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, the Springfield Interchange, I-395, and the Beltway.
