No other company has as extensive experience as BRM in the area of creating and managing beneficial reuse programs for utilities and foundries. The company initiated its first beneficial reuse program in Wisconsin in 1998 and has completed more than 400 projects since its inception. Thus far, BRM has diverted more than 4 million tons of industrial byproducts to beneficial reuse from alternative landfill disposal and this year is handling an average of 4000 tons of materials each day.

Why BRM?

Properly designed and implemented beneficial reuse projects are the most economical and environmentally friendly way to handle coal ash or foundry byproducts. An ongoing beneficial reuse program can contribute to the long term sustainability of many utilities or foundries in a number of ways:

1. Beneficial reuse preserves landfill space. Coal ash and foundry materials utilized in beneficial reuse projects are kept out of landfills and impoundments, thereby preserving the space for other disposal needs and prolonging the useful life of existing landfills. The need to permit new landfills, with the attendant typical clash of interests, is diminished.

2. Beneficial reuse conserves natural resources. By reusing materials such as coal ash and foundry byproducts in place of virgin materials for construction projects, the need for new mining or creation of new borrow pits is avoided. This prolongs the availability of local materials to projects and reduces the environmental damage caused by mining and related transport and extraction activities.

3. Beneficial reuse reduces CO2 emissions. As the result of energy savings achieved from reduced mining activity and the typically reduced distances required to transport reuse material from source to jobsite, less CO2 is released into the atmosphere.

4. Beneficial reuse strengthens local economies. Local economies are benefited as the result of the availability of lower cost construction materials that frequently make an otherwise unaffordable project feasible. This is particularly valuable for public facilities and projects including road construction as well as for expanding small businesses.

5. Beneficial reuse saves money. Beneficial reuse of coal ash and foundry materials costs the utility or foundry less than alternative methods of disposal in almost every case where true costs are assessed to the disposal process. Lower costs can translate into lower rates for utility customers or lower cost of foundry products providing further local economic benefit, as well as reinforcing the prudent cost control image of utility management.

6. Beneficial reuse does not create environmental problems. A properly designed and implemented beneficial reuse program creates less environmental risk and hazard than any alternative method of handling foundry byproducts. Through dispersal of foundry byproducts to numerous small projects over time, the concentration of material in a single location is avoided along with the attendant risk that an environmental disaster could result from the improper design or management of a large disposal site. Through proper project selection, thorough review of project conditions, strict adherence to prudent construction guidelines, attention to drainage, infiltration and sloping requirements, proper compaction and placement and other fundamental elements of beneficial reuse project design, current or future environmental risk associated with utilization of foundry byproducts in a beneficial reuse project is eliminated.

Expertise

BRM’s ability to implement a successful beneficial reuse program is based on the following strengths of the organization:

1. BRM has assembled an organization that includes a diverse group of the most experienced and talented people in the area of beneficial reuse. BRM’s team includes seasoned project managers, industry specialists and technical experts led by senior managers with extensive environmental industry and management experience.

2. BRM’s approach to implementing a beneficial reuse program is comprehensive, entrepreneurial, risk averse, and focused on problem solving in partnership with our customers. BRM is committed to avoiding the possibility of environmental issues in any of its projects while realistically dealing with the practicalities its customers confront in managing their waste streams.

3. BRM has on staff the technical and regulatory expertise that it needs to properly design beneficial reuse programs and effectively work with local and state level regulators to get projects implemented in a timely manner. BRM’s consultant, Paul Koziar, was himself a regulator for more than 30 years and a pioneer in the introduction of practical progressive beneficial reuse regulations.

4. BRM has developed and utilizes standardized systems to manage projects that ensure adherence to design specifications, reinforce consistent project management, provide management and monitoring information and enable all partners to remain informed on project and program progress.

5. BRM has the experience and market knowledge to enable it to quickly and efficiently source and develop project opportunities to ensure a continuing project pipeline sufficient to utilize the quantity of material directed to the program by its industrial partners. Having completed over 250 projects and evaluated hundreds more, BRM knows how this process works and can do it like no other organization.