erex Corp. knows how to get down and dirty. After all, the Westport, CT-based company is the third largest manufacturer of construction equipment — such as dump trucks, mining trucks, backhoe loaders, and mining excavators — in the United States. But when the company decided to start taking steps that would reflect its ever-Greening corporate culture, it found a way to really clean up.

FAST FACT Landfills produce leachate, a toxic liquid that leaks into the soil and ground water.

When planning its massive exhibit for the 2008 ConExpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas last March, Terex was equally concerned with what came out of its exhibit as what went into it. It knew it could use all the FSC-certified wood, recycled carpet, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the world in its exhibit, but it might as well build it out of coal and sealskins if the materials just ended up in a landfill afterward. And according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the millions of tons of waste that enter the nation’s 1,754 active landfills every year are responsible for nearly 36 percent of all methane emissions, which contribute more to global warming per ton than carbon dioxide. Even worse, the landfills also produce leachate, the toxic liquid that leaks into the soil and contaminates ground water.

Working with its Dallas-headquartered exhibit house, The Freeman Co., Terex constructed a three-story outdoor exhibit with a total footprint of 50,000 square feet — or about 22 times the size of the average newly built American
home. The exhibit property included almost 143.9 tons of steel and 27,000 square feet of carpet, creating a work space for more than 300 Terex staff members during the show. Requiring 11 days of 24-hour shifts to install, there was little that was Green about the epic exhibit — until ConExpo was over.

	FAST FACT The energy Terex Corp. saved by recycling the metal in its exhibit could power 255,000 60-watt bulbs for 26 hours.

With Freeman’s help, Terex arranged for a local metal recycler to haul away 127.5 tons of steel, or about 88.6 percent of the metal used in the exhibit. The 10,000 pounds of rental carpet was returned to Freeman’s rental inventory, where it will be recycled into drainage pipe for septic systems when it wears out. Approximately 1,200 linear feet of the modular aluminum and panel system used for the conference room and offices was returned to Freeman’s inventory as well, where roughly 90 to 95 percent of it will be recycled once its shelf life is completed. Additionally, a local landscaping company picked up some 250 tons of gravel from the site for use in paving roads and pathways in the Las Vegas area.

By recycling materials used in the exhibit and avoiding landfills, Terex probably saved much more energy than if it had simply used Green materials and junked the booth after the show. Based on information from the Steel Recycling Institute and the Energy Information Administration, the energy Terex saved by recycling the metal could light 255,000 60-watt bulbs for 26 hours. And simply using recycled metal prevented 159.38 tons of iron ore, 63.75 tons of coal, and 2.55 tons of limestone from being mined for new steel.

There are many ways to make your booth more sustainable, but Terex proved that sometimes it’s not what you put into your exhibit that makes it Green, it’s what you take out — and how.