Our recycling initiative

Sustainability

We are committed to environmentally sustainable practices and have invested heavily in our recycling program. The soil, organics and gravel our crews take off your property come back to our facility to be screened, reused and recycled, so only true garbage ends up in a landfill.

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LECM compost pile and wheel loader at the recycling facility
Organics reclaimed annually
700 yd³
Clays, soils and gravel reclaimed annually
2,500 t
Steps from your site back into use
5
Why it matters to you

Reducing your environmental footprint.

We care about the things that matter to you and your customers. As part of our regular operations, we support your sustainability goals by capturing and recycling materials.

  • An improved bottom line

    LECM's recycling improves your bottom line in two ways:

    • Lower costs. Avoiding landfill fees and using recycled or reused materials instead of buying new reduces your cost.
    • Higher revenue. Green, sustainable and environmentally responsible services let you command higher rental and lease rates from your tenants.

  • Sustainable practices

    Sustainability matters to us, and we have been listening: we know it matters to you too.

    Working with us lets you do your part in capturing carbon and reducing your property's environmental footprint. It also keeps waste out of already scarce landfill space.

  • Qualification for LEED credits

    Many of LECM's customers are LEED certified and benefit from vendors that help them qualify for credits. Our sustainable practices qualify, and the credits can be claimed by our clients.

    If you aren't LEED certified, working with us can help with the certification process, and at a minimum makes sure your facilities contribute to taking care of the planet we all share.

Our recycling process

Five steps from your site back into the ground.

  1. Collect

    Material our crews remove from your property comes back to our recycling facility instead of going straight to a landfill.

    Street sweeper collecting winter gravel from a commercial parking lot
    Spring sweeping brings the winter gravel back to our yard.

    • Clays and soils

      When soil, clay, rocks and organic materials are excavated from landscaping projects, we screen them at our recycling facility to separate them so they can be processed and reused in other projects.

    • Organics

      Grass, sod and leaves are collected by our landscape maintenance staff and brought back to be composted. Branches are collected by our arborists, chipped and added to the facility's compost piles.

    • Gravel

      During spring cleanups, our snow and ice management staff sweep up the gravel applied over the winter and return it to our facility to be screened and reused next year.

    • Garbage

      Along with the other materials, some actual garbage (or diseased plant material) is collected, separated from the good material and disposed of.

  2. Process

    Once at our recycling facility, materials are loaded into a screener, a machine designed to separate them. After separation, we stockpile clays, loam and gravel for reuse.

    We also capture organics, concrete, asphalt and screening fines (dust particles) that can be recycled into new purposes. The Recycle step below covers those.

    Screener conveyor building a pile of screened loam at the LECM yard
    Screened loam at LECM's recycling facility.

  3. Reuse

    Reusing materials keeps them out of the waste stream. When products are reused, the pollution generated in creating new materials is avoided and the energy originally invested in them is preserved.

    Reusing clays, soils and gravel means we don't buy them new, which brings down your project cost.

    35% of landfill waste comes from construction and demolition, according to the Canada Green Building Council.

    Screener and wheel loader working the recycling piles
    LECM's recycling facility.

    • Clays and soil

      Once screened, we harvest the loam for landscaping projects. Clays and rocks become base material for concrete and interlocking paving projects.

    • Gravel

      Gravel collected from snow maintenance sites is screened to remove fines and garbage, then stored for reuse the following winter.

  4. Recycle

    To recycle something is to reprocess it so it can be used in a different application than before. It essentially becomes its own new raw material.

    Skid steer loading an LE Paving tandem truck on a commercial lot

    • Organics

      Grass, sod, leaves and branches are composted into rich organic material, blended with our screened loam and used in garden beds and sod installs for better growth and plant health.

    • Concrete and asphalt

      All concrete and asphalt we collect is delivered to external concrete and asphalt recyclers.

    • Fines

      The dust separated from swept gravel is ideal for compacted, level surfaces like interlocking patios, walkways and gravel road maintenance, at a substantially lower cost than new material.

  5. Waste

    After all of our collecting, processing, reusing and recycling, what's left is actual garbage. Only garbage and diseased plant material are taken to the landfill to be disposed of.

Thank you for partnering with us.

Together we are making a difference in this city we call home. Not a customer yet? Our sales team can help with your landscape construction and maintenance needs.

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