Granite published its 2019 Sustainability Progress Report, which highlights the company’s advancement on environmental, social, governance and economic initiatives.
With the theme “Building a Better Future Today,” the progress report illustrates Granite’s commitment to collaborative partnerships and meaningful engagement with its stakeholders.
Granite’s aggregate reserves increased in 2019 by 56.6 million tons, which is approximately 4.5 years’ worth of aggregate. “This ensures a sustainable supply for our aggregate business,” the company stated.
“Granite has a long, proud history of building infrastructure with honesty, integrity, and a keen awareness that what we build impacts generations to come,” said Granite President and Chief Executive Officer James H. Roberts. “We made progress on our 2020 Sustainability Objectives this year and built a stronger foundation to evolve our approach to sustainability.”
Sustainability is Granite’s strategic approach to managing business with the future in mind by integrating values of dependable governance, social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and sustainable economics into its operations.
“Our stakeholders are welcome partners in this journey, so we engaged them directly in our first sustainability materiality assessment to learn more about their perspectives on Granite’s impacts and priorities for improvement on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues,” explained Raven Adams, Granite’s sustainability specialist.
In addition to providing progress on environmental, social, governance, and economic initiatives, the progress report also reviews the company’s efforts in key areas, including safety, diversity and inclusion, community involvement, employee engagement, ethics and compliance and infrastructure investment.
Highlights from the 2019 progress report include:
- Recognition by the Ethisphere Institute as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 11th year in a row.
- Lockwood Facility in Lockwood, Nev., received the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association (NSSGA) Silver Award in Environmental Excellence. Capay Facility in Esparto, Calif., and Singer Facility in Everson, Wash., received Bronze Awards.
- Worked with NSSGA to advocate for federal legislation that protects aggregate resources by recognizing their limited nature, and the need to sustain the ability of companies and local governments to utilize these resources through mining and processing.
- In 2019, Granite’s operations were safer than any time in its 98-year history, as measured by its overall safety incident rate.
- Acknowledgment as a Great Place to Work and considered a great workplace by 84% of surveyed employees.
- Diamond Achievement Sustainable Commendations from the National Asphalt Paving Association (NAPA) received by 23 asphalt plants.
- Diversion of 1.02 million tons of waste from landfills by using recycled content in asphalt production.
- Completion of 78 continuous improvement projects.
- An average client satisfaction score of 4.3 (out of 5.0).
- 26 projects honored with NAPA Quality in Construction Awards in 2019.
The company highlighted company success stories such this one:
“Resource conservation is a priority for our operations – and for our future. The water reuse team at our Cottonwood aggregate and asphalt facility in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, has taken this to heart by assembling and operating a water recycle facility. Since 2009, the facility has reused more than 50 million gal. of water in a state where the average rainfall is the second lowest in the nation.
“The water reuse plant uses a series of clarifiers, holding tanks, and a belt press to reuse the wash water in the washed aggregate process. Unlike many washed aggregate plants, the Cottonwood facility only utilizes lined ponds in the water reuse process, significantly improving the system’s water retention and recovery capabilities.
“The water reuse team takes exceptional pride in its work and has improved the percentage of recycled content every year the water recycle facility has been operating. Before the system was in place, the plant used more than 40 gal. of fresh water per ton of washed product. Now it is consistently at or below 20 gal.”
View Granite’s 2019 Sustainability Progress Report here.