Acme Brick Recognized for Leadership in Conservation & Sustainability for Second Consecutive Year

Acme Brick Company was recognized by Texan by Nature as one of the top 23 Texas companies committed to environmental conservation at its annual Conservation Summit, on Oct. 21 in Dallas.

The “TxN 20,” spanning 12 industries, demonstrate ingenuity as they cultivate impactful programs and forge new, beneficial paths in conservation. From Texan by Nature: “With 171 million acres of land and global leadership across multiple industries, Texas is fortunate to have industry leaders who see the value in partnering with conservation initiatives while also developing innovative, environmentally sustainable methods and processes within their business.”

“We are honored to be recognized in the TxN 20, said Ed Watson, CEO of Acme Brick Company. “By our very nature, we have been promoting sustainability throughout our history – indeed, we were founded to provide building materials that are essentially permanent. We continually invest in new technologies to make, ship, and deliver our brick in ever more sustainable ways, and we know firsthand how conservation improves the communities where we work and live. We salute our fellow honorees for their stewardship of the state we all call home.”

Acme’s TxN 20 application included the following conservation achievements:

• Recycling: The Lubbock Block Plant has diverted concrete waste from the landfill for reuse as a road base. In 2024, this initiative diverted 2,370 tons of concrete waste.

• Waste Diversion: Acme’s brick plants are equipped with scrubbers to reduce smokestack emissions. A byproduct of the system, spent lime, is usually sent to the landfill. The Denton Plant, Acme’s largest, had been seeking ways to reduce its landfill costs. Meanwhile, a bagged-goods plant in El Paso sought a lower-cost source of lime for its manufacturing processes. Following environmental review, ASTM testing, and logistical hurdles, spent lime from the Denton Plant is now hauled to the El Paso Bagging Plant for use as a raw material. This arrangement not only diverts waste from a landfill but also saves the El Paso facility up to $115,000 annually.

• Water Conservation: In the arid Chihuahuan Desert, where Acme produces concrete block, water is a precious commodity. The plant uses water to produce steam, which is necessary to cure the block product. As the steam condenses, it is captured and stored in an underground cistern. Ultimately, this water is pumped into a tank on a water truck and sprayed throughout the plant to control dust and mitigate “fugitive” emissions. Use of reclaimed water saved the plant 432,580 gallons of water in 2024 – nearly four households’ annual water use.

• Infrastructure investments: The plant manager at a brick plant in Sealy, Texas, championed an initiative to replace single-use water bottles and water jugs with a third-party vendor-supplied water system. The new system provides both ice and filtered water and is situated at convenient locations in the plant. The results were a great reduction in plastic waste, a more sanitary system, and provided an annual savings of ~$6,500. Sealy’s success has prompted other plant managers to implement their own plastic-free drinking-water solutions.

These and other conservation/sustainability successes are summarized in Acme’s TxN 20 profile, as well as the company’s annual Corporate Social Responsibility report, a publicly available download (PDF) at brick.com/sustainability.  

“Congratulations to this year’s TxN 20! Your leadership demonstrates what is possible when organizations engage in conservation. You have set the gold standard for conservation in Texas,  inspiring others to bring nature into the places we live, work, and play. Thank you for creating a healthier, more sustainable future for our state,” said former First Lady and Texan by Nature Founder, Laura Bush.

To select the 2025 TxN 20, the TxN team evaluated submissions as well as conducted independent research across 2,000+ of Texas’ publicly traded and private companies within 12 industry sectors. All companies were evaluated on a 17-point scoring system to narrow down the list of the top 60 companies in Texas. A selection committee of top industry leaders was formed to evaluate the top 60 companies and select the final honorees for the TxN 20. Key scoring criteria included: stated commitment to conservation; reported metrics related to conservation; measured investment in conservation; reported Return on ConservationTM results; positive conservation impact on land, water, wildlife, people, waste, energy, and more; and activities such as infrastructure, production and supply chain, employee engagement, and more.

Besides Acme Brick Company, other members of the TxN 20 for 2025 include DFW International Airport, H-E-B, Holt Cat, and Texas Health Resources. A full list of honorees is available here.

About Texan by Nature

Texan by Nature (TxN) was founded in 2011 by former First Lady Laura W. Bush, to unite conservation and business leaders who believe that Texas’s prosperity is dependent on the conservation of natural resources. TxN partners deeply with conservation groups and business, acting as an accelerator for conservation groups and a strategic partner for business. Its projects and programs (TxN Conservation Wrangler, TxN Certification, Symposia Series, and TxN 20) have impacted 7 million plus people, 19.5 million acres, and all of Texas’ 254 counties over the last two years. TxN’s website is https://www.texanbynature.org.

About Acme Brick Company

From its founding in 1891, near Millsap, Acme Brick Company has provided Texans with high-quality, permanent building materials. Today Acme operates seven brick plants across Texas, as well as three concrete block plants through its Featherlite subsidiary. All Acme Brick are hard-fired to withstand extreme Texas weather and exceed the standards prescribed by all building codes. Proof of Acme quality comes in two forms: the number of prominent Acme Brick structures still standing strong after 100 years; and the industry’s first 100-year limited guarantee for homeowners. The company places a priority on environmental stewardship, investing to reduce fuel and water consumption through production efficiencies, and diverting waste from landfills through recycling and repurposing. Acme Brick Company’s headquarters are in Fort Worth.