The Roanoke plant in Virginia, owned by TITAN America, a TITAN Group subsidiary, has won the Overall Environmental Excellence Award 2009, conferred by the Portland Cement Association and the magazine Cement Americas.

The award was bestowed on the criteria of performance in the areas of outreach, environmental performance, land stewardship, innovation and energy efficiency.

Saving energy and raw materials, recycling and re-use of waste – these are the main elements in TITAN’s environmental policy, and the Roanoke plant has taken significant steps in all these areas. For example: the conversion of the site of the old plant into an orchard of apple trees, for the enjoyment of the local community. The scheme involved the recycling of more than 3,320 tons of old machinery and the turning of the former industrial site into a field in which each worker planted an apple tree.

The Roanoke plant has received a number of important awards and distinctions for its performance in the environmental area. In 2008 it received the Virginia Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for Land Conservation. In 2007 and 2008 it was awarded an Energy Star by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for its energy-saving record. And the plant is ranked first among 118 cement production facilities included in the official US table of Industrial Facilities with Excellent Energy Performance.

Since February 2009 TITAN America has been involved in the Energy Star programme of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. This means the company is committed to accepting scrutiny of its energy efficiency by an independent agency. The procedure covers basic investments, monitoring and comparative evaluation of the company’s energy efficiency, using the tools devised by the Energy Star programme.