Sustainability

Synthetex, like the products we manufacture, is committed to inherent sustainability. Our direction is always to the future through our people and manufacturing practices today. When you use Synthetex products, you can feel confident you’re making a long-term investment in a more stable world.

Since the Roman Empire, concrete is a proven, viable, lasting construction product. Due to its 100-year-plus life span, concrete is one of the most energy-efficient and eco-friendly building products. This means that all of Synthetex’s HYDROTEX^® Fabric Formed Concrete systems essentially have no life cycle end – not only do they last up to three times longer than other products, but they can also be recycled and re-purposed indefinitely.

Environmental Benefits

You may not realize it, but by using HYDROTEX concrete systems from Synthetex, you’re dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of your project. And that’s not all. There are multiple reasons why the HYDROTEX products are the sustainable solution for today’s world.

• Made of primarily local, natural, non-toxic elements from the earth – cement, sand and water – HYDROTEX Fabric Formed Concrete products are inert. They are not flammable, will not react with other materials and do not release chemicals into their surroundings.
• It has been suggested that using concrete products has an effect on the environment because of cement content. It’s important to remember that cement is just a component of concrete and generally makes up no more than 10 to 13% of the total concrete mixture. In fact, the embodied carbon dioxide content (ECO²) in concrete products from using cement is only approximately 11% of the total carbon dioxide produced during the manufacturing process of cement.
• Approximately 60% of the carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacturing process of cement results from a process known as calcination, a chemical reaction among the raw materials in the cement kiln. Studies have shown that later, when hardened concrete is exposed to air, the calcination reaction reverses in a process known as carbonation, which occurs naturally in all concrete products to recapture carbon dioxide. Eventually, exposure of hardened concrete to the air will allow the recapture of the carbon dioxide originally emitted during the cement manufacturing process.
• Almost 100% of the components that make up fine aggregate concrete are extracted and manufactured locally – thereby reducing emissions and costs associated with long transport of materials.

Energy Conservation

• A long service life reduces energy needs. Concrete’s long life reduces the need for replacement, thereby eliminating further manufacturing energy required for replacement products and drastically reducing vehicle emissions in construction zones.
• Concrete exhibits a lower energy footprint associated with production, delivery and maintenance compared to other materials.
• Fine aggregate concrete mixes contain a certain amount of fly ash, a waste stream from the coal energy industry of which disposal has traditionally been difficult. This reduces the overall amount of cement required in the mixture, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions, reduces landfill volumes and fly ash disposal costs, creates a lower-cost concrete, and reduces the water required to produce the concrete. It is also proven that fly ash improves the concrete product’s durability, which means its service life increases even more.