Eddystone firm wins Pa. plaudits as environmental leader
EDDYSTONE » Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell Wednesday visited a yearold borough business after naming it one of the top companies for environmental excellence this year.
Aero Aggregates LLC, which moved into the former Hake’s site last year, takes recyclable material to create foamed glass aggregates that are used as lightweight fill on roads, bridge abutments and retaining walls. The 100,000-squarefoot site on 10 acres uses the material equivalent of 55 million glass bottles in its product and has the capacity to use more than 13,000 tons of recycled glass each year, much of which comes from surrounding communities.
On Tuesday, they were one of 23 recipients of the Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence in Harrisburg. On Wednesday, McDonnell took a tour of the site.
“A big challenge for us in the state is how we reuse industrial sites throughout the state,” he said. “So seeing a site repurposed not just as a generator of jobs and economic opportunity but truly building something in terms of the environmental impacts … is great.”
McDonnell said in the past 20 years, more than 6,400 brownfield sites in Pennsylvania have been cleaned to Act 2 standards and had more than 98,000 jobs created in that process.
Archie Filshill, CEO of Aero Aggregates, spoke of receiving the recognition.
“We’re very proud of what we’re doing,” he said. “We have a sustainable business but it’s a business based on 100 percent recyclable content on a brownfield site.”
Filshill said the site was larger than they needed but they thought it would be beneficial if they were to ever consider expanding. A Pennsylvania resident, he liked the access to the Blue Route and I-95.
Filshill added that Delaware County was well positioned between New York and Virginia, in a pivotal spot for the construction industry.
The executive explained how the material is made.
Municipalities have difficulty recycling their glass because once it’s crushed there’s no way to recycle it, so it’s often headed to the landfill, he said.
Now, they can direct their materials to Aero Aggregate, where the materials are cleaned, milled into a fine powder, and then placed into a kiln after a foaming agent is added.
After the firing, it emerges as a soft cake, which then crumbles into aggregate material for roads and bridges.
“Our feedstock is 100 percent material diverted from landfill,” Filshill said. “Our process uses half the energy and half the carbon dioxide of any other lightweight material. We have a lower carbon footprint.”
And, Filshill said, when they deliver it, they are able to put 100 yards on a truck due to its lightweight nature, as opposed to other materials that could only handle 14 to 15 yards.
Delaware County Commerce Director J. Patrick Killian highlighted how Aero Aggregate officials stood out among the many business representatives he meets.
“So many people come into my office and ask, ‘Well, what can you do for me?’” he said. “They came and said, ‘This is what we could do for the community.’ They’re just a sterling example of corporate citizens.” Malcolm Yates, chief of staff for state Rep. Brian Kirkland, D-159 of Chester, whose district includes Aero Aggregates, talked about how the 14-employee operation hires locally.
“Most of the staff … is around here within 5 miles and that’s wonderful,” he said.