Long before “Green” building or LEED Certification was all the rage—making almost every headline in the building industry, Krukowski Stone Company began efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. For decades Krukowski Stone Company has taken proactive efforts in the conservation of our valuable natural resources. Our vast efforts include minimizing waste, creating new products from remnant material and making smart choices throughout our entire manufacturing and quarry process. Furthermore, our quarry management includes a reclamation process to ensure quarried land has restoration plans for future generations.

Natural stone is an everlasting building product and one of the oldest known to man. Buildings constructed with stone centuries ago are still in use today. Try to replace natural stone with an alternative building product, and you will be hard pressed to find a substitute with the same beauty, flexibility and permanence. Our natural stone has extraordinary durability there is no need for replacement due to product deterioration in any climate. Other than occasional cleaning, our natural stone products have virtually no maintenance.

Krukowski Stone Company’s natural stone thin veneers use up to 75% less stone than our full veneer products while maintaining the same natural surface appearance. All of our thin veneers weigh less than 15 pounds per square foot as required by Uniform Building Code of 1997. Thin veneers not only dramatically reduce waste but also significantly reduce installation, shipping and construction costs. We even offer economical thin veneer products which are created from small pieces of stone that in earlier years would have been wasted or unusable as an architectural stone product. The end result has exceptional value while supporting unmatched beauty for any project. Packaging for our thin veneer handy packs and crates are also environmentally friendly by being made from Polypropylene resin; a recyclable plastic.

Proximity of our two quarries in relationship to our manufacturing facility is less than one-half mile of each other. Our vehicles only need to travel a short distance to the production areas.
In our Aqua quarry material that does not make block production can be fractured into useable boulders for architectural or landscaping purposes. In our sawing facility blocks which contain natural seams or fissures are sawn into slabs that are processed into sawn height architectural or landscaping materials and pavers. The cut-off or small unusable material is crushed into two sizes of landscape chips or path sand. Material that is unusable for the previous mentioned products are crushed into a state-specified road base. None of our stone is ever wasted or disposed of; all is used in a marketable product—not many companies’ can say that.

Several varieties of our products are as “green” as can be. They are removed from the natural layers in the quarry and palletized or loaded on to trucks for immediate use with no other manufacturing needed. These products include several types of architectural stone; such as Highland Brown Webwall, Chestnut Cobbles and Boulders, Aqua Blue Boulders, Wisconsin Granite Boulders and Gettysburg Webwall and landscape stone such as Sandy Creek Flagstone and Steppers, Bear Mountain Flagstone and Steppers, Highland Brown and Chestnut Outcropping, Highland Brown and Chestnut Random Drywall, Highland Brown and Chestnut Random Steps, Chestnut Cobbles, Highland Brown Steppers, Carmel Cream Boulders, Gettysburg and Seville Outcropping, Gettysburg Random Steps and Random Drywall, and Gettysburg Flagstone and Steppers. These items are indicated throughout the binder with our “Green Building Materials” logo shown at right.

Several new and popular products have been created from otherwise excess materials: Glacier Bay Irregular tumbled pavers, Prairie House, WI Granite boulder cut-offs, Rip Rap, Aqua landscape chips, road base. These items are indicated throughout the binder with our “Eco Friendly Building Materials” logo shown at right.

A large contribution to being green friendly was an investment in our sawing facility with the purchase and installation of a water treatment system. All of the water used in all areas of production is recycled by a closed loop system. The sediment is separated and solids are reclaimed and used for construction fill or quarry reclamation. The water is used during sawing because it aids greatly in dust reduction, acts as a lubricant and keeps the blades cool during the sawing process and extends the life of the diamonds used in cutting.

New Shot Blast Texture - This process was devised to create a surface texture that did not use fossil fuels in the production. This new texture is processed on a second-hand Wheelabrator machine, which we purchased and then refurbished. We use small stainless steel shot that is propelled onto the surface of the stone which erodes areas of the stone, giving a dull matte finish and slip resistant texture. The stainless steel shot is recycled again and again and will last for years.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle…
Little Things Mean a Lot
• All used office paper, envelopes, junk mail, etc… is shredded for on site recycling. The shredded paper is blended with molding plaster for added strength which is used to hold stone blocks in place during the sawing process.

• All cardboard is cut into small squares on site and used as corner protectors between the stone and the steel band on all of our banded material.

• We purchase used pallets that are repaired on site for use in our packaging department.

• We program our large saws to run in the overnight hours in order to use electricity in the off-peak hours.

• All used oil is recycled.

• Scrap iron is sold to a recycling facility.

• Equipment batteries are sent to a recycling center.

• All leftover stone pieces that do not meet standards are used as shoreline rip-rap or crushed into a state specified road base.