Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Driver Michael Hankins washes a Boxley truck at company's Roanoke concrete plant. The plant is in its second "continuous improvement" four-month cycle.

Boxley yard worker David Spilberg pours surplus concrete into a mold to create a barrier. The company said it has reduced waste concrete so far by about 20 percent and kept about 22 dump truck loads of the material out of landfills.

This 117-year-old quarry-blasting, stone-crushing, concrete block-crafting and concrete-batching company boasts a new ingredient in the company's mix.

Boxley has gone "green" and says it plans to keep on going.

The fourth-generation family-owned company, known for many years in Roanoke and elsewhere as W.W. Boxley & Co., joins a business trend, evident both regionally and nationally, toward adopting and marketing environmentally friendly practices.

Specifically, one of Boxley's eight concrete plants recently earned an industry group's nod for green deeds.

The company's Roanoke plant is the first ready-mixed concrete facility in Virginia and the 10th nationally to earn a Green-Star Certification award from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, according to Gary Mullings, the association's senior vice president.

Larry Bullock, Boxley's vice president of concrete operations, said the certification, for which the company applied last year, and related environmental practices will pay off for Boxley in at least two ways -- by reducing expenses and by attracting business.

"I think it will enhance our bottom line," Bullock said. "We want to be environmentally friendly because we think our customers want to do business with a company that is environmentally friendly."

The concrete association, whose roles include lobbying for members, recognized Boxley for a number of green measures, large and small, adopted to date, Mullings said.

Blasted drums

For example, the Roanoke plant, in an industrial park off Peters Creek Road near its intersection with Brandon Avenue, recycles hundreds of gallons of water blasted into the huge turning drums of concrete trucks to wash out unused mix.

Bullock said Boxley believes the recycling program will save about 800,000 gallons of water a year.

Next, company workers take this waste concrete mix, which would have set up and been landfill-bound, and form it to create bulky block barriers Boxley sells to a variety of customers. The company said it has reduced waste concrete so far by about 20 percent and kept about 22 dump truck loads of the material out of landfills.

In addition, the plant has replaced all interior lighting with high efficiency bulbs. It has provided ceramic coffee mugs to employees to eliminate the use of Styrofoam cups and, among other measures, has launched a program to recycle mixed paper, aluminum and plastics.

Bullock said Boxley wants to be a good environmental steward.

On the other hand

Not everyone is ready to celebrate Boxley's green certification or environmental stewardship.

Todd Woodall of Fieldale and others have long criticized a Boxley quarry operation near this small Henry County community.

Woodall, co-founder of the Fieldale and Carver Environmental Society, said the certification would mean more if it had been bestowed by a recognized environmental group instead of the NRMCA.

"Show me something from somebody besides an industry group," Woodall said.

He said the quarry is a source of "excessive dust" and that people have complained about the noise of blasting and reported related structural damage to homes. FACES also has alleged sediment has increased in Jordan Creek.

Boxley countered that blasting at the quarry is "well below the threshold limits for damage to a structure" and said that neither the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality nor an insurance investigator has found evidence to substantiate such complaints.

The company also described measures to control sediment, a related study by the Dan River Basin Association that found the quality of Jordan Creek is comparable to sections of the stream both above and below the quarry and various kudos for environmental efforts at the Fieldale quarry.

FACES provided support last year to those residents of Campbell County who opposed rezoning about 350 acres to allow Boxley to establish in the years ahead a new quarry in the Evington area. Opponents expressed concerns about noise, dust, potential effects on groundwater and wells, truck traffic, possible damage from blasting and other issues.

Boxley eventually won out. The company says it probably won't begin mining the quarry for about 15 years.

Campbell County Administrator David Laurrell said Boxley executives seemed to shoot straight during the debate about the quarry, which is designed to eventually replace the Lawyers Road quarry about five miles away. Boxley believes Lawyers Road will run out of stone reserves in 15 to 20 years.

"In my dealings with them, and from the best information I have, they've always been professional and straightforward and responsive," Laurrell said.

Going green

In February 2008, the NRMCA adopted the Green-Star certification program, which was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to the association.

After a Boxley employee's baseline inspection of operations at Boxley's Roanoke ready-mixed concrete plant, the company set goals for a four-month cycle to adopt environmentally friendly practices. When it achieved the goals, it applied to the NRMCA for certification and received it in March.

Boxley is now in its second "continuous improvement" four-month cycle at the Roanoke plant and intends to pursue certification of its seven other concrete facilities.

Boxley employs 382 people companywide, with 94 of those employees working in the Roanoke area.

Although the historic Boxley Building in downtown Roanoke remains a signature and impressive structure, the company has been headquartered since 2001 in Blue Ridge in Bedford County, not far from the Botetourt County line.

Boxley's products include crushed stone, concrete blocks and related building materials and ready-mixed concrete. The company also operates the Boxley Block, Brick and Hardscape Center adjacent to the concrete plant in Roanoke. The center sells brick, stone and other materials for home improvement.

Boxley's concrete division has participated in recent years in a number of regional construction projects. They include, among others, the Carilion Clinic building and new medical center being built along South Jefferson Street and the erection in Roanoke County of the Mennel Milling Co. flour mill, which had operated along the same stretch of South Jefferson Street. Building the new Mennel Milling plant required two weeks of continuous concrete pouring by Boxley, Bullock said.

Big projects in years past included supplying materials for the dam at Smith Mountain Lake.

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.

On the Net: www.boxley.com