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Association & Industry News
The estimated ready mixed concrete produced in July 2022 is 31.5 million cubic yards, 1.2% lower than that in July 2021. The estimated production in the U.S. through July is 228 million cubic yards, approximately 3.3% higher than that during the same period in 2021. Ready mixed concrete production is estimated from cement shipments reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. More detail, including production by state for the second quarter of 2022, is available here for NRMCA members under Production Statistics. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill, AB 2953 by State Assembly Member Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), that would facilitate recycling of construction materials by local governments, starting in 2024. Currently, many cities and counties prohibit or limit the use of recycled construction materials for road base, pavement and other applications despite Caltrans allowing them in its specifications. The bill would require cities and counties to have specifications to allow as much or more recycled materials as allowed in the Caltrans specifications. For concrete, this means allowing up to 100% recycled concrete in road base, use of recycled concrete aggregate and crushed concrete aggregate in minor concrete, use of fly ash and other supplementary cementitious materials from recycled products and up to 15% returned plastic concrete in minor concrete. To address concerns about revenue impact to small cities and counties, the bill exempts cities under 25,000 in population and counties with less than 100,000 in population. A similar bill was vetoed by the Governor last year, but materials producers wrote to the governor to explain the environmental benefits of conserving natural resources, keeping materials out of landfills and preserving the embodied energy of products. "The use of recycled construction materials is sound, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible, and should be practiced by all state-funded entities helping to build our state’s infrastructure," states a CalCIMA letter to Gov. Newsom. For questions, please contact Charley Rea at crea@calcima.org. 
NRMCA's Build with Strength is a sponsor of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) 2022 Building Innovation Conference. NRMCA Senior Vice President, Codes and Standards, Shamim Rashid-Sumar and Matthew Lemay, manager, codes and sustainability (seen here), participated in the conference and exhibition which was held in Washington, DC, in late September. The event brought together experts throughout the building industry, design, architecture, construction and government to address challenges facing the built environment. The conference highlighted decarbonization of the buildings sector, concrete design for resilience and sustainability, the landscape of federal and state resilience planning and policies, and the role of modern codes and standards, among other topics. For more information about codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Shamim Rashid-Sumar at ssumar@nrmca.org.
Engineering
The NRMCA Annual Concrete Technologist Training and Certification program (Short Course) is scheduled for November 7-11 at the Embassy Suites Hotel Baltimore, 1300 Concourse Drive, Linthicum, near BWI airport in Maryland. Interested persons are encouraged to register now! The number of available slots is limited. The Technical Short Course provides a fundamental understanding of concrete, aggregates and concrete making materials; requirements in industry codes and standards, and proportioning concrete mixtures. Attendees have the opportunity to obtain industry-recognized NRMCA certifications: NRMCA Levels 2 and 3 Concrete Technologist certification. The Short Course is intended for quality, sales and other personnel with technical roles with ready mixed concrete companies and suppliers to the industry. New hires in these roles can also benefit from attending. A significant amount of technical content is covered that requires the attendees to have a basic concrete technology background and at least a high-school level of math. Registrants will be provided with pre-course study content about three weeks before the course to prepare. Click here for more information along with registration link. on the NRMCA Short Course and a link to register. Contact Jessica Walgenbach if you need assistance with registering for the course. SEO
NRMCA’s Think First monthly safety initiatives feature different industry-specific safety items relevant to seasons, current topics or industry concerns. The initiatives are meant to be shared, used as a training tool, printed, posted or distributed; all of which are encouraged. This month’s issue, pictured here, is titled Seat Belts – Safety Starts With A Click. Click here to view this month’s and previous Think First topics. For more information, contact Gary Mullings or Kevin Walgenbach. 
Buildings
Concrete Innovations Session 7, titled Carbon Sequestration in Concrete, is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. Participants will learn how to permanently sequester carbon dioxide in concrete along with other strategies to lower the carbon footprint of concrete. Presentations include: • Carbon Uptake in the Environmental Footprint of the US Concrete Industry - Hessam AzariJafari, deputy director, MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub Concrete Innovations Learning Sessions are designed to bring practitioners, researchers and policy makers together to exchange the latest innovations for sustainable concrete design, construction and manufacturing. Click here to register for this session and here to register for all the Concrete Innovations' learning sessions. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org.
NRMCA recently verified a system-level Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) program for NRMCA Producer member Holroyd Company in Washington State. The EPD was developed in consultation with and based on a software tool by Athena Sustainable Materials Institute. The software tool integrates LCA impacts within batch operating software to generate EPDs when desired. The software, underlying life cycle data for each plant and EPD were reviewed and verified by Industrial Ecology Consultants, a verifier in NRMCA’s EPD program. Public access to the EPD is available on the NRMCA EPD webpage and is listed as NRMCA EPD: 20066 Holroyd Company. This EPD reports the impacts for ready mixed concrete from five plants throughout the state. For more information, contact Matthew Lemay at mlemay@nrmca.org. 
Pavement
NRMCA's Pave Ahead and Build With Strength groups along with the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association (CRMCA) recently joined forces to support the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) 2022 Showcase event held at the historic York Street Yards in Denver. NRMCA/CRMCA sponsored a booth staffed by Emma Dolan of CRMCA, NRMCA's Chris Dagosta (seen here conversing with an expo attendee) who represented Build With Strength and NRMCA Vice President, Local Paving, Don Clem who headed the Pave Ahead message. The showcase was attended by over 250 leaders from the commercial real estate and construction industries along the front range of Colorado. Staff will follow up with many of the contacts made at the showcase. For more information, contact Emma at emma@coloradocaa.org, Chris at cdagosta@nrmca.org or Don at dclem@nrmca.org. 
Learning & Development
The Workforce Development Committee met at ConcreteWorks to advise NRMCA members about its new initiatives as recommended by the Executive Committee. Committee members and meeting attendees also received an update regarding NRMCA's help to build awareness about a mixer driver’s job, including recruitment and retention materials and data. The committee invites company HR and workforce staff to actively participate in its work. Not only will their efforts support the industry at large, it presents an opportunity for terrific peer networking. Calendar
Please note that e-mail and direct registration links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's website. October 14 - 15, Chicago October 18 - 20, Charlotte, NC *Sold Out October 18 - 21, Dallas *Sold Out November 1 - 3, Bowling Green, KY November 7 - 11, Baltimore-Washington Area November 8 - 10, Louisville, KY *Sold Out November 15 - 17, Phoenix November 29 - December 1, Orlando, FL December 6 - 8, Dallas December 13 - 16, Kansas City, MO December 14, Nashville, TN 2023 January 10 - 12, Indianapolis January 24 - 27, Charlotte, NC February 14 - 16, Dallas March 10 - 13, Las Vegas, NV March 14 - 18, Las Vegas, NV March 28 - 30, Dallas 
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