You know how it feels when you can reduce, reuse or recycle a whole bunch of stuff at home — leaving only a tiny amount of trash in your garbage tote for GFL's weekly pickup?
It feels pretty amazing, right?
Well, Squamish's construction company, Nexii Building Solutions, has achieved that on a much bigger scale.
And for its efforts, it recently became the first construction manufacturing company in North America to receive the Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) Gold Certification for Zero Waste for its Squamish manufacturing plant.
Wait, what does Nexii even make?
At its plant near the entrance to Spit Road at 39200 Government Rd., Nexii, designs and manufactures green building products, including ceiling, wall and roof panels.
"So they're sustainable and cost-efficient and climate-resilient, said Zosia Brown, vice-president of sustainability at Nexii.
"It's prefabricated construction, which lends itself really well to eliminating waste because we're pulling all of the manufacturing into a controlled plant environment," she said.
Examples of buildings that Nexii constructed include a Starbucks, Scotiabank and Popeyes restaurant in Abbotsford, and the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Nanaimo.
The plant opened in March of 2021 and currently employs between 80 and 95 staff in Squamish.
"Eighty production team members, and there's also an office support team in Squamish as well, and we are growing tremendously over the coming year," Brown said.
Why did they win the award?
"Nexii’s Squamish Plant has demonstrated its commitment to waste reduction by implementing best practices for waste management at every stage of its manufacturing process," reads the news release about the award.
The company’s efforts have resulted in over 90% of its waste being diverted from the landfill.
There are about 20 different streams of materials that come into the Squamish plant to either create the panels or for packaging them for transit, Brown said.
"Every single one of those materials, we have worked with GFL, or our waste hauler to understand, OK, what's the best and highest next use of that material? If it's a waste product, is it compostable? Is it recyclable? If it is recyclable, how is it recyclable? Where's it going? What is its end-of-life destination in terms of — is it turned into a new product? And if there were materials that we were sending to landfill, for every one of those materials, it's looking for alternatives to landfill," she said.
As an example, Brown said Nexii panels have an insulative polystyrene core — like a dense Styrofoam-type material — and a quick win for the company toward its goal of zero waste is using the extra, or offcuts of that, as packing so the panels themselves aren't damaged in transit. Any extra that can't be used for that is densified into its core ingredient, which is then sold back to the manufacturer or sold to another supplier to be another installation product.
"That's kind of a nice closed loop example, and where we're really tracking all the bits in the plant, and then we know where it's going next."
There is still room for improvement, Brown said, noting that one product Nexii uses, a composite mesh, is one they are still trying to figure out how to divert.
"So we're still actively looking at that one."
Brown noted that if other companies are considering improving their waste diversion, getting to zero waste makes good business sense.
"If there is excess material being poured or being cut, that is money down the drain. So actually, the zero-waste approach or mentality is good for business."
Next, Nexii is looking to get involved with creating EV chargers.
"We are also partnering with Siemens to develop a modular, prefabricated EV charging solution as well, which is about to be launched," Brown said.
Canada has to lead the net-zero building economy
Betsy Agar, buildings program director for the environmental think-tank Pembina Institute, said she was pleased to see Nexii was able to "identify a solve for an issue at the intersection of the climate and housing crises, by reducing the waste associated with producing their sustainable construction products."
"This is an example of the huge opportunity Canada has to lead the net-zero building economy," Agar said in an emailed statement to The Squamish Chief.
“Working with Light House on ensuring Nexii products are zero waste shows Canadian manufacturers are innovative and committed to a resilient future, but more support is needed from governments of all levels to make that future a reality."
Nexii hired Vancouver-based sustainability consultant, Light House, to help them achieve their recent designation.
In order for the building sector to meet its net-zero goals, the Pembina Institute estimates Canada needs to ramp up retrofitting 600,000 homes per year starting now until 2040.
"To meet that demand, we need to see more products that support energy-efficient, climate-safe retrofits coming online, and fast. Canada needs to invest in its supply chain through training and upskilling, product research and development, and coordination to help the whole sector begin to pull in the same direction as businesses like Nexii,” said Agar.
**Please note that this story has been corrected since it was first published to say that the Pembina Institute estimates Canada needs to ramp up retrofitting 600,000 homes per year starting now until 2040, not by 2024, as was first published.
