Florida Asphalt Plant Wins Ecological Award

Dec. 28, 2000
Located in an upscale office park in a suburb of Jacksonville, Fla. is an asphalt plant--not exactly the typical neighbor of a button-down, white collar business community. But if you look more closely at the plant you will see a green, yellow and white ecology flag flying on its flag pole just below the American flag. This flag symbolizes the company's philosophy and its commitment to the environment.
Located in an upscale office park in a suburb of Jacksonville, Fla. is an asphalt plant--not exactly the typical neighbor of a button-down, white collar business community. But if you look more closely at the plant you will see a green, yellow and white ecology flag flying on its flag pole just below the American flag. This flag symbolizes the company's philosophy and its commitment to the environment. The plant is owned by Duval Asphalt Products Inc., a company with an award winning history that attests to its ecologically conscientious attitude.

Each year the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) recognizes the achievements of an asphalt plant in the area of ecology. This year Duval won the award. In 1991 its plant on West 12th Street, and in 1994 an old batch plant, which previously occupied the spot of the current award winning plant, won NAPA's award. The company also was a finalist in 1993. Duval is the only company to have won this award three times.

When asked why his company is a frequent winner of this award, Mike Burns, the executive vice president, replied, "We go the extra mile in terms of appearance." All aspects of the current plant were carefully planned to ensure that the plant would protect the environment and enhance its location with its appearance.

"Perception is 90% of reality in some people's minds. How you are viewed in your surroundings speaks volumes as to company attitudes and quality of workmanship," said Burns. This is important for an industry that historically has gotten a bad rap when it comes to aesthetics. It is for this reason that Duval's plans included landscaping its grounds with thirty-foot oak trees to beautify the facilities.

Gencor, the manufacturer of the new plant, also took part in the planning sessions designed to improve the plant's aesthetics. The result of this cooperation between plant builder and plant user is a pleasing paint job, which incorporates Duval's own corporate colors, striping and logo so the facility will match the large Duval sign at the entrance.

In addition to aesthetics Duval installed state-of-the-art systems for storm drainage, and dust and emissions control. The tank farm for liquid asphalt storage is all-electric and the facility has the ability to recycle materials other than pavements.

Duval's new plant also features a new drum, known as the Ultra drum, manufactured by Gencor. Its design takes into account Florida's high humidity and can handle 8% to 9% moisture in virgin material and 6% moisture in recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). It is a straight drying and heating drum that preheats RAP in the mixer and can process RAP up to a level of 50%.

In addition the 9-ft diam and 44-ft long drum features Gencor's 135 million btus per hour total air ultra burner. Duval runs its new drum at its top rating of 375 tph. Presently Gencor is building a similar drum for Macasphalt a division of Apac in Melbourne, Fla.

Maintenance of the plant also plays a role in Duval's ecological philosophy. "We keep our place very clean, freshly painted, and up to date. How our neighbors perceive us is very important. We have never had one complaint from our neighbors," stated Burns.

Why all the fuss over coexisting with the environment? Burns explained, "It's the times that we live in. People are more aware of the environment. A dirty plant will attract negative scrutiny." Winning three times in the past five years, Duval has set an example for other companys that wish to conduct business in harmony with the environment.

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