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Environment

Meeting our Environmental Responsibilities

Environmental sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s smart business. At Summit, we take a comprehensive approach to environmental stewardship across all levels of our organization. Our sustainability program integrates environmental compliance, resource efficiency, emissions reduction, water conservation, recycling, and land reclamation. We go beyond primary use, actively promoting biodiversity and establishing native landscapes wherever possible. To us, environmental sustainability is an essential part of responsible business, reducing our impact and ensuring careful stewardship of the lands we operate on.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Water<br>Management
Water
Management
Waste<br>Management
Waste
Management
Land Reclamation<br>& Biodiversity
Land Reclamation
& Biodiversity
Energy<br>Management
Energy
Management
Environmental & Business Benefits
Environmental & Business Benefits

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Reducing carbon emissions is one of our top priorities and we are committed to sustainability initiatives that will facilitate our efforts towards our goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. By taking a comprehensive approach that involves optimizing processes, product innovations, and exploring new technologies and fuel alternatives, Summit aims to be a leader in decarbonization.

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our era. At Summit, we believe our current efforts and future strategic direction will continue to allow the company to create climate-related opportunities by exploring innovative ways to improve operational performance and reduce our environmental impact.

To better understand our impacts and define our climate change strategy, the baselining of our 2020 data was an important starting point for measuring our future progress. As part of this baselining exercise, emissions sources throughout Summit operations were identified.

REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS

To allow the company to more accurately record emissions data, as well as set meaningful and informed targets, the following near-term initiatives were established:

Initiatives

SAMSARA

Samsara is a third-party safety platform that provides fuel consumption tracking for transport fuels. In 2021, this system was placed in all vehicles to improve safety awareness and performance, understand fuel consumption, emissions, and active vs idle time across all Summit operations so future performance, efficiency, and conservation can be tracked.

Innovation Partnerships, Pilot Programs, and University Projects

Summit is eagerly exploring emerging technologies, with the goal to ultimately show a clear path towards a true net zero by 2050 with less reliance on market-based offsets. This exploration includes the evaluation of new technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration and fuel switching.

Head over to our carbon emissions page to learn more about the progress we’re making to reach our 2030 reduction target as well as our net zero carbon emissions by 2050 target.

Learn More

Water Management

Water plays an important role in our production processes and site maintenance. Our approach to water use focuses on three main objectives: minimizing the consumption of fresh water, ensuring that clean water is being restored to local watersheds or municipal systems, and addressing site-specific water concerns. We use water in different lines of business for multiple purposes, including dust suppression, washing product, cooling, cleaning equipment, human use, and in the case of ready-mix, into the product itself. These systems, processes, and reduction measures allow us to reduce our water pull from municipal sources, ensure healthy ecosystems and aquifers, and in turn reduce costs. In regions of higher water scarcity, we carefully evaluate and monitor our water usage to more effectively manage these risks.

Water Usage and Recycling

Our approach to water use focuses on three main objectives: minimizing the consumption of fresh water, ensuring that clean water is being restored to local watersheds or municipal systems, and addressing site-specific water concerns.

Summit Materials frequently recycles water in our aggregates and ready-mix businesses, with a focus on geographic regions with water scarcity and water cost concerns. We have developed and implemented water conservation programs and closed loop water systems, reusing water many times to perform similar tasks (washing vehicles, washing rock products, dust suppression and more). Our systems, processes and reduction measures allow us to reduce our water pull from municipal sources, ensure healthy ecosystems and aquifers, and in turn, reduce costs. In regions of higher water scarcity, we carefully evaluate and monitor our water usage to more effectively manage these risks.

boulders

Recycling Concrete

Recycling concrete is another meaningful way for our aggregates and ready-mix businesses to recycle and limit our environmental impact. We do this by re-crushing waste concrete and by putting returned product to good use. Concrete roads or lots that need to be resurfaced are excavated and the material can then be re-crushed and used as road base in place of virgin material. Other methods include creating blocks with concrete returns and/or washing concrete to extract valuable aggregate material.

Recycling Asphalt

Asphalt pavement can be safely and efficiently reused many times over through the process of recycling. As roadways and infrastructure degrade, the asphalt layer can be milled off the road, ground up and used again as a fine aggregate, which then becomes a percentage of the binder in a new asphalt mix. The use of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Recycled Asphalt Shingles (RAS) is limited only by the specifications of the application. Our companies use RAP and RAS whenever possible, and on an annual basis, we reuse hundreds of thousands of tons of asphalt.

recycled asphalt

Download our 2023 ESG Report for more information about our recycling programs and current usage metrics.

2023 ESG Report

2021 Water Summary Site (% total, k cubic meters)

Total 2021 Water Usage
2007 k cubic meters

[1] Mainland has no data (Canada bills by well rights and usage is not tracked).

[2] AMC has only four locations supplied by utility water <0.1 1000 cubic meters, this is reflected within the total water withdrawn.

[3] Water withdrawal data includes utility provided freshwater withdrawals currently tracked and provided by businesses and My Utility Cabinet. Non-utility provided freshwater withdrawals are largely unavailable and not readily estimable.

Reducing and Managing Waste

Reducing waste generation is one of our top sustainability goals. Whether that’s through office initiatives like reducing paper usage or finding new ways to recycle and reuse car parts, we aim to produce as little solid and hazardous waste as possible. The waste we do produce is frequently repurposed as sellable products, such as concrete blocks. This effort is more than a business initiative, it is helping shift the culture and awareness around waste.

As part of our overall commitment to environmental stewardship and cost savings, we look for and continue to implement improvements that minimize waste. This includes programs like retreading old tires, recycling used drums, used oil, vehicle batteries, oil filters and metals from old and retired equipment. We broadly track our recycling of materials and various waste measures as a management tool in our overall environmental sustainability program.

Hazardous Waste Management

We take the creation of all waste, including hazardous materials, very seriously, and handle these materials in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Green America Recycling, LLC, a subsidiary, manages our use of liquid and solid hazardous waste as alternative fuels in cement manufacturing.

11,700 TonsMethane Captured from Landfill & Sold1
22,185Gallons Used Oil

2,531 TonsCement Kill Dust2
682,694 TonsLandfill/Municipal Solid Waste3

12,699 TonsCement Kill Recycled Materials (metals, paper, cardboard, plastics, mixed)4 Dust2
1,490 TonsVehicle Batteries & Tires Recycled
[1] Mainland has no data (Canada bills by well rights and usage is not tracked)
[2] AMC has only four locations supplied by utility water <0.1 1000 cubic meters, this is reflected within the total water withdrawn.
[3] Water withdrawal data includes utility provided freshwater withdrawals currently tracked and provided by businesses and My Utility Cabinet. Non-utility provided freshwater withdrawals are largely unavailable and not readily estimable.

The majority of our operations outside of cement manufacturing are considered ‘small quantity generators’ of hazardous waste. For these operations, the bulk of our hazardous waste comes from the maintenance of our equipment and rolling fleet. Used oil is recycled with verified third parties, barrels that contained oil are reused, recycled or properly disposed of, and solvents and car parts associated with equipment maintenance are disposed of in a careful and lawful manner.

Our Material Recovery Facility

Summit is proud to own and operate a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) outside of Lawrence, KS, that is solely dedicated to reducing waste to the area landfill. On an annual basis, the MRF returns tens of millions of pounds of trash that would otherwise have gone to a landfill back to markets around the world as usable materials. The MRF prides itself on being incredibly clean, well-operated, and an important part of the community in Lawrence, KS, working with the University of Kansas and other groups to drive more innovative ideas to reduce waste.

Land Reclamation and Biodiversity Programs

At Summit, we aim to reclaim as we go, which allows us to repurpose soil and plant life as much as possible and to reduce costs associated with bonded and unused lands. Frequently, land restoration involves returning land to natural wildlife habitat or agricultural land. We have also created parks and easements for townships and cities where we operate.

Progressive Land Reclamation and Closure

Summit is proud to own and operate a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) outside of Lawrence, KS, that is solely dedicated to reducing waste to the area landfill. On an annual basis, the MRF returns tens of millions of pounds of trash that would otherwise have gone to a landfill back to markets around the world as usable materials. The MRF prides itself on being incredibly clean, well-operated, and an important part of the community in Lawrence, KS, working with the University of Kansas and other groups to drive more innovative ideas to reduce waste.

Currently developing a comprehensive, companywide reclamation policy in consultation with stakeholders, which we expect to publish by 2023.

Partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Council

In 2014, Summit began a partnership with the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) to advance our efforts in land and wildlife conservation. For 30 years, WHC has promoted and certified habitat conservation and management on corporate lands.

Since our partnership began, our conservation efforts and certified habitat programs have expanded to include thousands of managed acres. From planting pollinator gardens to encouraging avian species, each of our conservation certification programs is composed of unique projects that are driven by the site’s landscape, the team’s objectives and an understanding of high-value biodiversity areas.

Whenever possible, we use native plant seed mixes, with an effort to support pollinators, birds and other locally appropriate wildlife and habitat development.

2021 Certified Gold

DAVENPORT PLANT WILDLIFE RESTORATION AREAS

-IOWA-

2022 Certified Silver

CORNEJO WILDLIFE PROJECT

-KANSAS-

HAMM SANITARY LANDFILL

-KANSAS-

2021 Certified

ALLEYTON RESOURCES

-TEXAS-

AUSTIN MATERIALS HAYS QUARRY

-TEXAS-

COX STATION QUARRY MAINLAND SAND AND GRAVEL

-BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA-

CORNEJO WILDLIFE PROJECT

-MISSOURI-

The partnership with WHC ensures that all projects have definitive goals, are managed for the best possible outcomes, and are built on the foundations of biodiversity enhancement, ecology and employee-community engagement. We work with state biologists and agencies, local environmental organizations and national organizations to gain input on effective, impactful projects to implement, what species to target, and how to best accomplish these tasks with our resources. All of our projects begin with our employees’ boots on the ground and critical local partnerships.

The Continental Cement–Davenport Plant Wildlife Restoration Areas program has met the criteria for WHC Conservation Certification Gold Tier. The achievement recognizes the specific efforts of the plant’s program and its commitment to conservation. We have employees across our operating companies who dedicate time and energy to build these projects outside of their dedicated scope of work. Their commitment to these projects, the land and their communities is valuable beyond measure.

Natural Resource Improvements and Efficiencies

Reducing natural resource usage is a top priority at Summit Materials. We have initiated programs across our lines of business that demonstrate our commitment to efficiencies and improvements in the use of resources and reductions in our emissions. We undertake these projects with the goal of reducing costs and environmental impact and improving our operations as well as our local communities.

Alternative Fuel Usage in Cement Manufacturing

Our Hannibal Cement Plant co-processes both liquid and solid hazardous waste as a fuel source. Our Davenport Cement Plant uses alternative fuels from surrounding industrial facilities, including items like off-spec seeds, used tires, used oil, by-products from nearby manufacturing, and materials that would otherwise be landfilled. Our subsidiary Green America Recycling is a key component to sourcing, securing, and implementing our alternative fuel usage. On average, 39.83% of our cement plants’ energy came from alternative energy sources in 2021, which is far above the average U.S. cement industry rate of 25% from alternative sources. The amount of renewably-sourced energy from our cement plants equates to the amount of power that an estimated 10,200 American homes use in one year.*

We have made advancements in recent years to accept more diverse materials, increase our alternative fuel percentages use, and divert thousands of pounds of waste from landfills. In 2021, Summit embarked upon a further expansion of its Green America Recycling Facility to increase our future proportion of alternative fuels in the production of cement. That expansion project is slated for completion in 2022.

Download our 2023 ESG Report for more information about our use of alternative fuels.

2023 ESG Report

Energy Management and Efficiency

Our operating sites utilize energy for multiple activities: fuel (for both mobile vehicles and stationary combustion), electricity, and explosives (for blasting). To better understand our energy needs and usage, a baselining activity was completed in 2021 for our 2020 operations. This baselining activity is a starting point for measuring our energy usage and to develop our energy reduction targets.

We understand the importance of renewable energy and limiting our impact to the environment. In 2022, where feasible, conversion to renewable energy will be a companywide initiative. Currently, Summit has some operations that are powered by fuel generators. The first step in our energy efficiency effort involves starting to convert our diesel-powered stationery operations to line power so that energy can be eventually converted to renewables. Summit is dedicated to undertaking this effort and finding ways to be an industry innovator. Summit is focused on changing its energy consumption practices to utilize more renewable and alternative sources especially because our energy consumption impacts our GHG emissions as well.

We have our sights set on some major sustainability milestones in the years ahead. Learn more about our sustainability goals for 2030 and 2050.
* According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,715 kilowatt hours (kWh), an average of about 893 kWh per month. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3.

Learn More

Environmental & Business Benefits

Some of our ongoing projects that deliver both sustainability and economic benefits include:

Installing telemetry to monitor and reduce our fleet fuel consumption and emissions

Converting our generator-powered assets to line power to facilitate the ultimate conversion to renewables

Installing water metering systems to track and reduce the precious water we consume

Expanding of our Green America Recycling business and cement plant conversion toward Portland Limestone Cement

Increase and Improve

To annually improve the number of species managed, acres managed and students impacted with certified Wildlife Habitat Council projects.

Restore Native Landscapes

For the restoration projects that may not be certifiable: continue to improve land rehabilitation efforts by using native plants and effectively promoting animal, bird and pollinator habitat.

Get Involved

To increase employee and community involvement with conservation projects, educating our stakeholders on ways we can all participate in conservation.

Although Summit Materials, Inc. (“Summit,” or “Company”) believes that the
assumptions inherent in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, the reader
should not place undue reliance on these statements. Forward looking information is
prepared as of April 2, 2024. Please see our “Risk Factors” in Summit’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our
subsequent filings.