Joint AmerenUE/Charah®, Inc. Facility Annually Recycles 60,000 Tons of Ash for Concrete Mix
ST. LOUIS, MO., June 29, 2007—The Missouri Waste Control Coalition today presented AmerenUE with an Outstanding Achievement Award for the AmerenUE/Charah®, Inc. concrete packaging facility at Labadie Power Plant.
The Missouri Waste Control Coalition is a 400-member not-for-profit organization for citizens, businesses and organizations concerned about the environment and the proper management and disposal of generated wastes. The coalition presented the award at its Annual Waste Management Conference this week.
The packaging plant, opened last fall, results from a partnership between AmerenUE, Charah, Inc. of Louisville, Ky., QUIKRETE® and The Home Depot. It annually recycles 60,000 tons of fly and bottom ash into two million bags of high-quality, QUIKRETE concrete mix. At the facility, the mix is processed and packaged for sale in fully recyclable, two-handled plastic bags from Charah. Ultimately, AmerenUE officials hope to recycle all of Labadie’s bottom ash.
Bottom ash and fly ash result from burning coal to generate electricity. The heavier bottom ash settles out of the gas stream in the combustion process, while virtually all of the lighter fly ash is collected in precipitators before it can go out of the plant’s stacks. Ash is not classified as a hazardous waste by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), and Ameren companies have recycled it for years in various applications, including blasting grit, roofing shingles, cement and concrete manufacturing, structural fill, and snow and ice control.
In addition to the ash being used to make concrete mix, more than a year’s worth of Labadie’s bottom ash—200,000 tons—was used as structural fill for the state-of-the-art plant.
“We are honored to receive this award from the Missouri Waste Control Coalition,” said Dave Fox, Manager of Labadie Plant. “It is great to be recognized for a project that reduces the overall cost of generating electricity, saves valuable landfill space, helps the environment and saves our customers money.”
Charah, an ash management firm, has a similar facility in Virginia, but this is the first to operate in the United States on power plant property, closest to the source of the ash. The company annually processes 500,000 tons of bottom ash and markets it to the concrete block and concrete mix industries in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Missouri.
“AmerenUE’s support was critical to this project—we couldn’t have done it without them,” said Charles Price, president and CEO of Charah. “We are proud to be part of their commitment to the responsible management and beneficial reuse of waste products.”
Charah and Ameren are charter members of the U.S. EPA’s Coal Combustion Products Partnership (C2P2), which encourages beneficial use of coal by-products. In April 2005, Charah was awarded the prestigious C2P2 first-place award for Innovation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for its outstanding achievements in increasing the amount of coal combustion products beneficially used. Charah’s award was for its achievements in developing the new, patent-pending concrete mix and packaging currently sold at The Home Depot stores in the Virginia market and now entering the market in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
“Our customers have benefited greatly from both the QUIKRETE product coming out of the Labadie facility and the unique packaging Charah, Inc. provides,” said Giles Bowman, Merchandising Vice President for Building Materials for The Home Depot. “The sealed plastic bag is sturdy, and the two handles make it very easy for our customers to lift and carry. At the same time, this packaging is less likely to break than traditional paper bags.”
About AmerenUE
AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation. Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
About QUIKRETE®
The Home Depot® is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,087 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. Through its HD Supply SM businesses, The Home Depot is also one of the largest diversified wholesale distributors in the United States, with more than 900 locations in the United States and Canada offering products and services for building, improving and maintaining homes, businesses and municipal infrastructures. In fiscal 2005, The Home Depot had sales of $81.5 billion and earnings of $5.8 billion. The company employs approximately 355,000 associates and has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as the No. 1 Most Admired Specialty Retailer and the No. 13 Most Admired Corporation in America for 2006. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
About The Home Depot®
The QUIKRETE® Companies are the largest manufacturers of packaged concrete in the United States and an innovative leader in the commercial building and home improvement industries. With more than 80 manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and South America, The QUIKRETE® Companies have unsurpassed product distribution and depth. The QUIKRETE® Technical Center ensures that professionals and consumers alike are provided with the most innovative and highest quality products available on the market. For additional information, please visit www.quikrete.com.
About Charah
Charah®, Inc. is a leading ash management provider for the coal-fired electric utility industry. Based in Louisville, KY, Charah provides a complete line of ash management services including landfill construction, management & operations; bottom ash processing & marketing; fly ash sales; engineered fill applications; ash pond management; Integrated Gasification Combine Cycle (IGCC) slag beneficiation; gypsum handling, and limestone grinding and handling.
Charah is a charter member of the EPA’s Coal Combustion Products Partnership (C2P2) which encourages beneficial use of coal by-products. In April 2005, Charah was awarded the C2P2’sfirst place award for Innovation by the EPA for outstanding achievement in increasing the amount of coal-combustion products (CCPs) beneficially used in its patent-pending ash-based packaged concrete.
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