State Representative, Ross McGregor, met Shelly Company employees and Flexible Pavements Association members at the Shelly Materials, Inc. Springfield Asphalt Plant. Representative McGregor, who also chairs the Transportation Subcommittee, learned about asphalt and the environmental and sustainability attributes such as RAP (recycled asphalt pavement) usage, recycled shingles and new technologies like warm mix asphalt (wma). Key talking points from Shelly Company employees and Flexible Pavements representatives included:
The importance of recycled asphalt pavements-the most recycled item in the world and how it makes asphalt pavement a renewal resource.
We are utilizing factory waste and consumer tear off shingles in our mixes. This helps reduce the amount of shingles dumped in landfills.
Warm mix asphalt-it not only provides fuel saving for our asphalt plants it reduces the oxidation of the liquid asphalt in the mix which helps to provide for a better quality product. It also helps reduce the fumes at the paving site which provides for a better work environment for our employees.
The Shelly Company has a quality control team that designs and tests the mix we produce and lay.
Our company maintains its own in-house environmental testing of our plants which monitors the performance of our emission collecting systems (baghouses).
At the conclusion of his visit, Representative McGregor had a greater understanding of The Shelly Company’s asphalt processes and environmental efforts like “keeping it out of the landfill.” “We also tried to convey the vital role of the asphalt industry to Ohio’s economy through the number of people we employ, the commodities and raw materials we purchase and the taxes we pay,” according to Andrew Gall, Flexible Pavements.
