LOUISVILLE, KY (December 15, 2005) – Charah®, Inc., a leading ash management provider for the coal-fired electric utility industry, has been featured as the cover story for the December issue of Concrete Products magazine. In an article entitled “Paper Cut” by Concrete Products Editor Don Marsh, Charah’s innovative plastic bagged-packaged dry mix concrete product and the company’s relationship with The Home Depot were detailed. The magazine cover featured Charah’s Emporia, Virginia facility which produces and bags the ash-based dry mix concrete.
Patent-pending Charah® Lightweight Concrete Mix, a new lightweight concrete mix, is sold under the brand name PROJECT MIX in all of The Home Depot® Virginia locations. This exclusive marketing brand is only available at The Home Depot. In addition to PROJECT MIX, Charah has developed additional products made with its lightweight PriceLite® aggregate including Crack Resistant 5000 and Fast Setting Concrete Mix. According to the article, these lightweight products and Charah’s revolutionary plastic packaging have allowed the retailer to reduce floor sweeping frequency, to lower product spoilage due to the replacement of paper packaging with plastic, and to observe positive consumer response to the “handle” package design and pricing comparable to conventional products.
Charah® Lightweight Concrete Mix is made with PriceLite aggregate, a lightweight aggregate made from bottom ash, which dramatically increases the potential for beneficial use of both the bottom ash and fly ash that is produced by coal-burning utilities. Because of the light unit weight of PriceLite, Charah’s patent-pending concrete mix using bottom ash gives consumers a lighter product with the same concrete yields that they are already accustomed to purchasing. For example, a 29 pound bag of Charah concrete mix provides a concrete yield equivalent to that of a 40 pound bag of regular concrete mix.
In addition, Charah has developed innovative packaging for this new product, utilizing a patent- pending totally sealed plastic bag with two handles, as opposed to a traditional paper bag. This packaging innovation is easier to lift and carry, less likely to break and much cleaner than traditional paper bags, making it attractive to retailers like The Home Depot as well as consumers.
In April 2005, Charah was awarded one of the first ever United States Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Coal Combustion Products Partnership (C2P2) awards for demonstrating outstanding achievements in increasing the amount of coal combustion products (CCPs) beneficially used in PROJECT MIX.
According to Charles Price, President and CEO of Charah, Inc., “Charah prides itself in being a trendsetter in the ash management industry and a proven specialist in bottom ash recycling. We strive to find new ways to utilize coal combustion products to benefit both the utility industry and our environment. Our new lightweight concrete mix and its revolutionary packaging are examples of the innovative, environmentally-conscious solutions we strive to provide.”
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