Gravel haulers to public: “Everybody must get stones.”

MISSISSAUGA-“Aggregate is located where nature put it.”

That’s the word from Norm Cheesman, executive director with the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA).  

It’s critical, Cheesman says, that the public appreciates the fact that transporting sand, rock and gravel is expensive. The closer sand and gravel sources are to where they’re used, the better off we all are.  So the truckers are putting their message where their loads are.

The association has launched a public-awareness campaign by decorating members’ trucks with elegant decals with messages such as, “I build schools, hospitals, bridges.” And then, in smaller type, www.gravelfacts.ca.

“It’s important that we work on developing a balance with communities, because aggregate is located where nature put it, and it’s expensive to transport,” says Cheesman.

“There are going to be trucks in local communities moving the product from pits and quarries to job locations.  There has been an infrastructure spending deficit in Ontario for decades. The time has come where we are building roads, sewers and subways and that all takes aggregate.  Lots of it. 

“If every aggregate truck were to travel just 10 extra kilometres to its job site, an extra 25 million litres of fossil fuel would be consumed annually, not to mention the extra dollars it would cost for transportation.”

“It’s a fact,” says Cheesman, “without aggregate, there would be no roads, no houses, no hospitals, no police stations, no communities. But there’s no question that gravel trucks, despite representing only 3% of all the trucks on the road, can be the real focal point for the frustration the public feels towards the industry.”

All told there are about 6,000 aggregate trucks in Ontario.

The decal campaign started last year, says the OSSGA’s vice president communications and operations Sharon Armstrong. “We did one truck as a test and then we added 19 more trucks this year.”

“We’ve had great feedback – from drivers, who are proud to drive the trucks, to fleet owners, to scale house operators and the public,” says Cheesman.    

Armstrong says the decal has a lifespan of seven years. “So our plan is to add about 20 trucks per year-so that next year we’ll have 40 on the road, then 60, up to about 140, and then we’ll have to start replacing the year-one batch.”    

She says a truck can be outfitted on both sides for about $1,500 and if anybody is interested, they can contact her at sarmstrong@ossga.com.