Bridgewater Ready Mix Accelerates Green Concrete Initiative with ACOA Support, on Track for 2030 Net-Zero Milestone
- May 16, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
Bridgewater, N.S. - Bridgewater Ready Mix had already been working on reducing carbon emissions when the Canadian cement and concrete industry’s action plan to net zero was launched in May 2023. So, when this plan was introduced, Bridgewater Ready Mix aligned its efforts to follow what the industry had put forth. This commitment to do its part to reduce its carbon emissions continues to be important for the company.
The ambition for Bridgewater Ready Mix is to contribute to the federal and provincial governments’ climate goals by significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the ready-mix concrete produced at its plant. Much thought has gone into a new plant that uses modern technology and advancements in building practices to achieve an energy-efficient production facility. In addition, an electric truck was purchased, and two EV charging stations were installed.
During this process, the company decided to be an early adopter in switching from General Use Cement (GU) to General Use Limestone Cement (GUL). This change, while bringing about a lower carbon footprint, was challenging for contractors, as the cement required modifications to the mix designs to maintain workability. The company learned firsthand the importance of de‑risking decarbonization and that performance had to be the priority.
The cement and concrete industry had already worked in collaboration with the federal government to address the embodied carbon in concrete before launching its roadmap. The emphasis on collaboration with government and other stakeholders remains central to helping the sector achieve emissions reductions.
To meet the industry action plan and address the various challenges Bridgewater Ready Mix was facing in lowering its carbon footprint, the company worked with ACOA to engage expertise to identify and activate levers, including finding alternative, cleaner sources. For example, this funding allowed Bridgewater Ready Mix to explore using crusher dust from a local quarry to reduce carbon emissions. While this alternative proved unfeasible, work supported by ACOA created a pathway for other emission‑reducing options to be considered.
Concrete is a popular building material due to its utility. The large amount of concrete produced every year accounts for about eight per cent of global carbon (CO2) emissions, according to the World Economic Forum. To achieve the cement and concrete net‑zero action plan, Bridgewater Ready Mix is focused on increasing efficiency and sustainability without compromising the durable, resilient, versatile and cost‑effective nature of its concrete products.
“As a ready-mix company, we must always put performance first,” said Joel Westin, President of Bridgewater Ready Mix. “There can never be any doubt that our products will deliver the performance our customers have come to depend on, which is paramount. However, we take greening very seriously and embarked on efforts that allow us to do this in line with our performance priority.”
Bridgewater Ready Mix’s greening initiatives include several factors. In 2024, Bridgewater Ready Mix was the first in the province to announce that it would publish instant, on‑demand Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for both its commercial and residential concrete mix designs. An EPD is a standardized document that details a product or material’s environmental impacts and its contents. Through EPDs, Bridgewater Ready Mix is providing interested and invested parties with a tool to calculate embodied carbon and make informed choices on lower‑carbon concrete design alternatives to meet design requirements.
As previously noted, the operation is transitioning from General Use Cement (GU) to General Use Limestone Cement (GUL), eliminating 1,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030 (approximately 12 per cent of inputs). In addition to these greening commitments to its plant operations, Bridgewater Ready Mix is ready to switch to cleaner energy sources to power the plant, mixing and transportation of cement once those options become available.
“We are committed to net-zero emissions, and we are on target to meet the 40 per cent goal by 2030, and we can do this while ensuring our products continue to perform at the high level our customers depend upon,” Westin said. “We will continue to look for additional ways to green our sector to help our industry colleagues meet the industry action plan.”
Bridgewater Ready Mix is working on a 20‑unit affordable housing development in partnership with the Housing Trust of Nova Scotia that will be used as a regional case study for the Environmental Roadmap Program (ERP). Previous case studies can be found on the Cement Association of Canada’s website. The concrete is marketed as EcoSmart Concrete, and the company’s EPDs are used to verify that the concrete delivered to the project is 30 per cent below the industry’s regional EPDs as published by Concrete Atlantic.
With a clear roadmap forward and the action plan launched by the concrete industry for net‑zero emissions by 2050, in addition to its work supported by ACOA, Bridgewater Ready Mix is confident about achieving the 40 per cent reduction milestone by 2030.
About Bridgewater Ready Mix
Bridgewater Ready Mix has been providing quality concrete solutions for over 35 years and is a member of the Atlantic Concrete Association. Bridgewater Ready Mix has committed to Canada’s cement and concrete industry action plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, offering residential and commercial concrete solutions from Port Mouton to St. Margarets Bay from its base in Bridgewater Industrial Park.
To learn more, visit: www.bridgewaterreadymix.ca
Media Contact:
Janet E. Silver
Phone: 613-617-9101
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