Public company intelligence · evidence-bound public brief
CRH plcNYSE: CRH
Dublin, Ireland (primary listing NYSE) · Packaging, construction & resource materials · Construction & building materials
CRH has a materials loop that is visible in products and plants: supplementary cementitious materials, recycled aggregates and road inputs. The first decision is one local material stream and one specification, not a footprint-wide headline.
CRH's scale is unambiguous from its own reporting (3,961 locations, 28 countries, North America driving 75% of 2025 net income), but no single plant-level secondary-feedstock specification, buyer, or price is public for any named CRH facility.
Top material flows in
- Limestone, clay and other mineral feedstock for cement clinker (directional, sector-level)
- Aggregates, crushed stone, sand and gravel, underpinning 95% of CRH North America revenue
- Methanol, the top 2024 TRI-listed chemical at CRH's top-matched U.S. facility (Ash Grove Cement Co., Chanute, KS)
Top waste & residual flows
- 37.3M lb TRI-listed chemical waste managed across 263 matched U.S. facility leads (2024)
- 36.2M lb of that total routed to energy recovery, the dominant disposition path for this account
- Directional residual classes: kiln dust, quarry fines, concrete returns, gypsum, mineral wool, process-water solids
Who controls the physical system
Parent → legal entity → owner → operator → plant, as resolved from public filings.
- Legal entity
- CRH plc (Ireland-incorporated, primary listing NYSE: CRH since 2023 re-domiciliation)
- Global footprint
- 3,961 locations across 28 countries (company-reported, FY2025)
- Regional concentration
- North America generated ~75% of 2025 net income
- Top U.S. TRI-matched facility
- Ash Grove Cement Co., Chanute, Kansas, relationship type (owned vs. operated by another entity) not independently re-verified in this brief
Financial scale
Scale proxies only, not raw-material purchasing volume unless stated.
- Ticker / CIK
- CRH / SEC CIK 0000849395 (10-K filer)
- FY2025 revenue
- $37.4B, +5% YoY from $35.6B in FY2024 (reported)
- Revenue mix, FY2025
- 32% residential · 28% non-residential · 40% infrastructure
- Aggregates concentration
- 95% of North America revenue is connected to aggregates (company-reported)
- 2025 M&A
- Acquired North American Aggregates (New Jersey aggregates business), continuing an aggregates roll-up strategy
Physical system, in plain terms
CRH is a vertically integrated building-materials operator: it quarries aggregates (crushed stone, sand, gravel), burns limestone and clay into cement clinker at kiln sites like Ash Grove Cement in Chanute, Kansas, and converts both into ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and paving materials, plus downstream precast, drainage and utility-enclosure products. Ninety-five percent of its North American revenue traces back to aggregates, which is unusually concentrated for a company this size and explains why its TRI footprint (263 matched U.S. facility leads) dwarfs every other account in this universe, cement and aggregates plants are numerous, local, and individually small, unlike a single large petrochemical complex.
Production footprint and plant evidence
| Site | Location | Role / evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Ash Grove Cement Co. | Chanute, Kansas, U.S. | Top 2024 TRI-matched facility lead for this account. Cement kiln site; top listed chemical is Methanol. |
| North American Aggregates sites (acquired 2025) | New Jersey, U.S. | Acquisition announced 2025, extending CRH's Northeast U.S. aggregates footprint (Reported, trade press). |
| 263 additional TRI-matched facility leads | United States, multiple states | Facility-level ownership and operating-control status not independently verified per site in this brief; treat as candidate sites pending confirmation. |
263 is the count of 2024 TRI facility leads matched to the CRH parent by name/address, it is a match count, not a confirmed owned-and-operated plant count, and includes sites that may be operated under joint ventures, subsidiaries, or historical brands (e.g., Ash Grove, acquired by CRH in 2018) not individually re-verified here.
Materials and packaging entering the system
| Material / input | Family | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|
| Limestone and clay | Cementitious mineral feedstock | Directional, standard cement-industry input, not itemized per CRH facility in public filings |
| Crushed stone, sand and gravel | Aggregates | Reported at the segment level, 95% of NA revenue tied to aggregates; tonnage per quarry not public |
| Methanol | Process/TRI-listed chemical | Reported, top 2024 TRI-listed chemical at the Ash Grove Chanute facility lead |
Products and product families
| Product / segment | End market | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|
| Cement (clinker-based) | Construction, infrastructure | Product family identified; grade/mix specifications not publicly itemized per plant |
| Ready-mixed concrete and asphalt | Residential, non-residential, infrastructure construction | Product family identified; regional mix designs not public |
| Precast, drainage and utility-enclosure products | Infrastructure, residential outdoor living | Product family identified per company segment disclosure; SKU-level detail not public |
Process and conversion
Cement production at sites like Ash Grove runs limestone and clay through a rotary kiln at high temperature to produce clinker, then grinds it with gypsum into finished cement, a process that generates kiln dust, requires large fuel inputs, and is the primary reason 36.2M of CRH's 37.3M lb of 2024 TRI-listed chemical waste routed to energy recovery rather than release or landfill. Aggregates production (crushing and screening stone, sand and gravel) generates quarry fines and process-water solids as its principal residual streams. CRH has not published plant-level process yield, kiln-dust tonnage, or fines-generation data for any named U.S. site in this brief.
Waste, residuals and current disposition, 2024 U.S. TRI
| TRI metric | Quantity (lb) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Total TRI-listed chemical waste managed | 37,294,027 | 2024, 263 TRI-matched facility leads |
| Recycled | 109,648 | On- and off-site recycling of TRI-listed chemicals |
| Treated | 70,420 | On- and off-site treatment |
| Energy recovery | 36,194,456 | Dominant disposition path, kiln-related energy recovery |
| On-site release | 869,519 | Direct release at TRI-matched facilities |
| Off-site transfer | 53,354 | Transferred off-site for further management |
| PFAS-listed chemical forms reported | 0 | 2024 TRI PFAS-specific reporting forms |
TRI-listed chemical scope only; not total industrial waste, landfill tonnage, or verified saleable material. Matched to the 2024 reporting year via facility name and address; ownership at the matched facility is not independently re-verified in this brief. Source: EPA TRI Basic Data Files, 1987, present.
Regulatory position
- Cement kilns are subject to EPA National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Portland cement manufacturing; specific facility-level compliance status is not itemized in this brief.
- State and federal beneficial-use rules govern whether kiln dust, fly ash substitutes, or recycled concrete aggregate can be reused as a secondary cementitious material, this is the binding regulatory gate on any recovery pilot.
- EPA TRI reporting applies at facilities using listed chemicals (e.g., methanol) above reporting thresholds; 263 CRH-matched facility leads filed in the 2024 reporting year.
Certification and standards signals
- No CRH-specific Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) or low-carbon-cement certificate is verified at the facility level in this brief.
- Industry-standard frameworks relevant to this sector, ENVIRON EPDs, ASTM C1157 performance cements, and state DOT recycled-aggregate specifications, are directional sector context, not confirmed CRH certifications.
Innovation, pilots and announced capacity
- Acquisition of North American Aggregates (New Jersey, 2025), extending CRH's Northeast U.S. aggregates concentration (Reported, trade press).
- Broader industry momentum toward supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash, slag, calcined clay) as clinker substitutes is a sector-level trend; no CRH-specific SCM commitment is verified here (Directional).
- No CRH-specific carbon-capture pilot, alternative-fuel kiln conversion, or recycled-aggregate program is confirmed at a named U.S. site in this brief.
Potential offtakers and receiving markets
- Cement and aggregate plants are themselves the natural first-tier receiving class for recycled concrete aggregate and mineral fines, CRH could be both generator and buyer within its own network (Directional, potential class only).
- Asphalt and road-material producers are an established secondary destination for concrete and aggregate fines industry-wide (Potential class only, no named CRH buyer relationship is public).
- Metals and mining accounts in this same (e.g., steel producers generating slag) are a plausible cross-account feedstock source for CRH's cement kilns as a supplementary mineral input, a directional, unconfirmed pairing worth flagging for account-strategy purposes, not a claimed relationship.
Material transition opportunity
Qualify one kiln or quarry for a named secondary-mineral input
CRH's TRI footprint (263 matched facility leads) and its 95%-aggregates North American revenue base both point toward secondary mineral feedstock, recycled concrete aggregate, kiln-dust reuse, or slag/fly-ash substitution, as the account's highest-leverage lever. But because the evidence is entirely account-level (no plant has published an assay, acceptance spec, or buyer), the honest next step is a single-plant qualification, not an enterprise pitch.
Next action: Identify one CRH cement or aggregates plant (starting with the Ash Grove Chanute, KS TRI lead) and request its public environmental permit filings to locate a named kiln-dust or quarry-fines acceptance limit.
Sources
- CRH nets $3.8B in 2025https://www.cdrecycler.com/news/crh-earnings-2025-profits-aggregates-concrete-recycling-usa-europe/
- CRH acquires North American Aggregateshttps://www.cdrecycler.com/news/crh-ireland-usa-acquisition-naa-aggregates-new-jersey-2025/
- CRH plc, Form 10-K, FY2025https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/849395/000162828026009043/crh-20251231.htm
- CRH plchttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRH_plc
- TRI Basic Data Files, Calendar Years 1987---Presenthttps://www.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/tri-basic-data-files-calendar-years-1987-present
Evidence manifest
View machine-readable claim manifest (JSON)
{
"artifact": {
"artifact_id": "ART-CRH-0916",
"canonical_company_name": "CRH plc",
"as_of_date": "2026-09-16",
"mode": "public",
"artifact_readiness": "Research draft, source closure required",
},
"claims": [
{
"claim_id": "CLM-CRH-0001",
"claim_text": "CRH FY2025 revenue was $37.4 billion, up 5% from $35.6 billion in FY2024.",
"claim_type": "reported",
"entity_id": "ENT-CRH",
"evidence_strength": "B",
"confidence": "Medium",
"source_ids": [
"SRC-CRH-01"
],
"freshness_status": "current",
"rights_status": "public_reuse"
},
{
"claim_id": "CLM-CRH-0002",
"claim_text": "263 U.S. facility leads matched to CRH in the 2024 TRI reporting year.",
"claim_type": "observed",
"entity_id": "ENT-CRH",
"evidence_strength": "C",
"confidence": "Low",
"source_ids": [
"SRC-CRH-05"
],
"freshness_status": "current",
"rights_status": "public_reuse",
"open_task_ids": [
"TASK-CRH-0001"
]
},
{
"claim_id": "CLM-CRH-0003",
"claim_text": "95% of CRH North America revenue is connected to aggregates.",
"claim_type": "reported",
"entity_id": "ENT-CRH",
"evidence_strength": "B",
"confidence": "Medium",
"source_ids": [
"SRC-CRH-01"
],
"freshness_status": "current",
"rights_status": "public_reuse"
},
{
"claim_id": "CLM-CRH-0004",
"claim_text": "No plant-level secondary-mineral feedstock specification or buyer is publicly disclosed for any named CRH facility.",
"claim_type": "directional",
"entity_id": "ENT-CRH",
"evidence_strength": "D",
"confidence": "Low",
"source_ids": [],
"freshness_status": "unknown",
"rights_status": "public_reuse",
"open_task_ids": [
"TASK-CRH-0002"
]
}
]
}
Decision memo
First action: don't pitch CRH at the enterprise level, its 263-facility TRI footprint proves scale, not a specific opportunity. Start with the Ash Grove Chanute, KS plant, the one named TRI-matched site in the public record, and pull its state environmental permit to find a real kiln-dust or process-water disposition figure before proposing anything.