Sustainability at TNT and Evergreen
As mentioned in our company expertise write-up TNT is very driven in recycling, reusing, and reducing any waste material away and out of the landfill. This initiative starts at the top and is embedded into all our employees who also have wholeheartedly got behind the drive to help the Okanagan region thrive in a full circle economy. The following is a breakdown of all the areas that TNT and Evergreen strive to be as green as possible.
Earth/Dirt manufacturing:
TNT’s main yard on Old Vernon Road is where the majority of TNT’s soil manufacturing and remediation happens. Here we take in clean fill soil from trucking job sites and blend it with biomass and mulch and other natural fertilizers that we also produce on site with our vermiculture program. It is routinely mixed over months and watered and then when it’s ready for sale we truck it back out to customers across the valley.
The simple effective process of taking in green waste – slow composting – mulching – re-composting – screening – mixing (with fine crushed rock/sand with rock dust) – further mixing (with fine screened topsoil and or sub-soils – (induced with worms) – further covered with fine grind wood mulch – and finally watered. Also note we have all materials needed on hand to ramp up processing right away.
End Result – a high end well fertilized growing medium for multiple suppliers (mentioned above)
Pictured above: Our amended Terra loma soil at a customer’s house
Vermiculture
A number of years ago our CEO Ryan brought in a new division to be added in with our fertilizer and soil management division. This was accomplished by bringing in cases of red wiggler earth worms that are tended to by our yard workers and watered and fed to thrive in our fertilizer piles speeding up the breakdown of our green yard waste and adding rich nutrients in the form of worm casings.
Pictured Above: Red Wiggler worms arriving to be added into our Vermiculture program. Below is the finished amended soil and an example of the beautiful produce grown in our soil blend.
Wood mulch/chips:
Also, at TNT’s main yard we take in green yard waste as well as logs and stumps from local arborists and landscaping companies. We run all this green waste through our chipping machine which also screens and separates the mulch coming out into different sized grades for being sold as is, or to be added into our soil mixes.
We also use our tracked Krok grinder that can be equipped with specialty blades for processing green and wet materials when customers have a large volume of brush or yard waste on site and plan to use it back on the property (such as orchards and vineyards) and don’t want to spend excess money trucking it off site.
This in hand also reduces emissions from trucking materials through town which is looked at every job lead when pricing work out to have the smallest carbon footprint. Which is especially vital in a growing metropolis area that still has a large economic tie with its farming vitality in the area. We at TNT believe that it’s our farmers in the area that are a large backbone of the Kelowna valley economy, as Kelowna has a large draw for tourism that goes hand in hand with the vineyard/orchard ecotourism. Thus, all efforts to reduce emissions are a core process to TNT’s efforts.
Equipment sharing between 3 companies
For this reason, TNT, through all our specific branches of services try and use the same heavy equipment for multiple purposes. Our Krok grinder, for example, has stage 3 emissions and uses DEF to limit its emissions as well (even though off-road equipment is not required to). It is used across all our divisions, for use in mulch and wood chipping operations, to grinding down recycled concrete that can then be used as crush on site or sold off to other customers. The Krok crusher also has a magnet belt that separates out all metals out of the mix so that the recycled metal can be sent to metal smelters to be reused. As well it can process demolition materials during the demolition process. Passing these materials through the machine compacts down the material massively which in turn leads to less overall trucks being needed to transport the waste to landfill but also allows the landfill to fit more materials in a more compact efficient manner leading to more space being available and the landfill not being filled up as quickly and needing to take up more land.
In the same thought process our excavators and skid steers are also used across all divisions of TNT and Evergreen, as opposed to each division having their own equipment. This cuts down on many environmental factors from cutting down on overhead operating costs, emissions, wages, consumables (ex, filters, oil, fuel, wearables), as well as risks that can happen when operating heavy equipment such as spills, accidents, fires, and other potential hazards that can happen.
Also, our operator trucks that we give our operators to carry tools, supplies, and workers to job sites, are used in the winter months when construction tends to slow down as plow trucks for TNT’s snow removal division. This also ensures that our fleet is in good working order all year round and aren’t sitting as depreciating assets or leaking fluids into the soil.
We are currently striving to replace our older fleet tandem trucks with newer, more efficient clean burning truck models when it financially makes sense. Any of the older fleet that are retired are stripped down for all good working parts and then recycled for scrap metal or even further broken down to be reused for components by our in-house welder and mechanic.
Demolition salvage/reuse
When we approach any demolition project, in the planning and logistics stage assess every property for any building materials that we could reuse or resell or donate to avert as much as possible away from the landfill, as well as give back to the local community when and where we can. This can include just about every type of material from framing lumber to sheets of usable plywood, electrical panels, cupboards, appliances, lighting, doors, windows, fireplaces, even down to concrete slabs. In the past we have made efforts to include donations to fire departments and police departments in the manner of doors for them to practice breaking down in training scenarios. There have also been instances where we have been able to rehome/transport living trees and shrubs on the property to neighboring properties that wanted them.
Next step in the demolition recycling process is to separate as much of the materials left as possible. We separate clean wood as well as any metal building materials, away from the demolition waste for recycling as well as remove all roofing material so that it can also be recovered through recycling at the landfill.
The final major step of recycling for building demolition projects is recycling the concrete foundations/slab that is left over. On larger scale sites we bring out Krok crusher to sites when there are multiple foundations to break down. Otherwise, we stockpile foundations at designated drop sites that we set up as close to the jobsite as possible. Once there are enough foundations collected, we crush them down into either 3” or 6” minus. This can be used by the customers to lay under their new foundations or as a backfill around the new foundations.
Pictured above: Our Krok concrete crusher crushing down concrete foundations in Kamloops
Hazardous waste handling
When encountering any contained removable hazardous waste on our demolition site walk through with customers (ex. shed with paint cans, strippers, pesticides), we always ask that they make sure the appropriate steps are taken for disposal before we take over the site. However, this sometimes isn’t possible, or the customer forgets, in these instances we use double layered 6mm poly bags to transport the waste locally to the Battery doctor who is a locally operated and registered disposal company. If there are any PCB materials or fluorescent lighting on site, then they are taken to the Bottle depot located in Rutland (Kelowna) for proper disposal. We also encourage all our demolition employees to approach new sites with caution when they have been left uninhabited for any period of time. The homeless population tends to cause all sorts of damages to the services (cutting wiring and piping) and the structure itself. Homeless populations take up occupancy and leave behind all sorts of other potential hazards such as needles and other biomedical hazards as well. If any are found, TNT has management come to site with proper biomedical disposal containers to clean up the site.
As for any larger or more dangerous non-contained hazardous waste on sites, our sibling company Evergreen Hazmat Solutions steps in to perform Hazardous Materials Survey in conjunction with Epoch Environmental Consulting who performs the survey as a third party. Evergreen then performs the remediation necessary to leave the site clean to be either demolished or returned clean to the customer.
Abatement/Remediation – Responsible Disposal
When abatement is necessary all disposal is set and met by government both local and provincial standards. This means that all “hot” or “dirty” (deemed to contain abatable materials such as asbestos, vermiculite, lead, or mold) materials that are being removed from the site are to be placed in 6mm poly bagging or wrap, then washed, then wrapped again in anther marked 6mm bag. These are then placed in a 20/40 yard waste bin that is hauled by an LT licensed hauler with a BCG number tracked manifest. It is then shipped to the local landfill to be appropriately buried/disposed of.
Very similar steps are also required for wildfire clean up when cleaning up burnt down buildings. The waste is either bagged up individually or in larger scales some landfills will accept waste contained in 40yd sized bin liners. This is to mitigate any potential fine dust/ashes coming out of the truck during transport to landfill as well as in the off chance that the truck should spill/tip over and lose its contents.
Roofing material recycling
As per city regulations at the landfill all tar-shingle roofs must be removed before the building is demolished for recycling purposes. It can also contain asbestos from time to time (however fewer and further between as time goes on) so it is also included in the HMS report conducted when first on site. If it comes back as clean with no abatable materials present, then it is removed and sent to the local landfill for them to recycle it and use it as a layer of road building for temporary landfill roads.
Metal recycling
Any metal materials found on any of our jobsites are taken back to our yard if it can’t be appropriately sorted on site and sent off the metal scrap yard. If it’s taken back to our yard, TNT can strip it down to separate out mixed metals (tin, copper, lead, steel, brass). Once the materials are separated, they can be recycled more easily.
Re-use of IT hardware
TNT has recently entered a contract for IT maintenance and development with a company called Good IT inc. They look after all our IT needs and make sure all our computers and software and hardware are up to date and in working order. They will remove out of date hardware as needed and will recycle accordingly. TNT also tries to share computers and access when needed to cut down on total cost and any wasted use of equipment.