Our true path

[Posted July 23 2014 by: Barry Stiles]

This is our inaugural blog so it’s important for me to start our dialogue with the true purpose of our journey, what drives our people and our company. There will countless blogs about permeable paving, stormwater management,  the how to’s , the specs, the in and outs of our products and our clients stories. But first I want to share why this is personal.

Some say it’s just business, nothing personal. I say that’s precisely what’s wrong with business today. It is personal and it must be true.

Growth and development are vital to our economy and to our improving lifestyles. Sadly and frighteningly, many toxins often come along with these developments. If not managed responsibly, these “improvements” poison our environment in subtle and not so subtle ways that impact our lives and most importantly our children’s health.

My epiphany struck  closest to my heart when we discovered an aggressive cancer in my beautiful 4 year old son Hudson. Who’s to say what part of the root cause was genetics, what part the processed foods we eat, the chemicals in our toiletries and cleaning products, the quality of our water, or the toxins in our developed world around us that helped unleash this terrible disease in our child.

I realized after witnessing the most incredible bravery I will ever see as my son tearlessly  endured multiple 10 inch needles into his spine to withdraw spinal fluids, seemingly endless chemo and nausea, that we had to do more. I had to do more.

Our purpose is to improve the quality of the water we drink and the air we breathe. TRUEGRID will help manage stormwater, passively improve the quality of this water before it arrives at the natural aquifers that feed our drinking water supplies. It will keep plastic waste out of polluting landfills and oceans and repurpose these wastes into useful , environmentally friendly products. It will reduce CO2 emissions by replacing concrete which is responsible for 7% of the worlds pollutants. TRUEGRID replaces asphalt paving that is full of toxic chemicals and impacts the heat island effect and our unnaturally warming environment.

We are blessed. Hudson is now a happy, healthy  just-turned-8 year old boy! As I watched his bravery through his ordeal, I realized we can all do more in our small ways, every day to make the world a healthier place. We need fewer bad stories. We need less cancer. We must do more. We are doing more.

I hope this is not too personal for a business blog but that’s how our company will do business. Our efforts come one permeable parking lot, one sustainable  jobsite, one porous driveway, one grass fire-lane, one ADA complaint gravel park pathway at time. Thank you for considering our products and our purpose. We welcome you to join us on our true journey.

Barry Stiles

Founder – TRUEGRID

Parking solutions are important because you need to make sure you actually provide people with a place to park. Whether you have a temporary event or a permanent site, people need a place to park without it being disruptive to the environment. There are more options available than parking directly on the grass because you don’t want heavy vehicles to get stuck in the dirt. You also don’t want to deal with concrete or any of the other materials that can be poured.

One of the better parking solutions is to use pervious pavers. Such a material allows stormwater runoff to flow through the paving solution so that the soil can benefit. It can also replenish the natural aquifers so you are not damaging the ecosystem in any way.

When you look at some of the parking solutions out there, they are going to erode over time. This is as a result of flooring, rainfall, and even vehicle and pedestrian traffic. When you utilize something that is permeable, you don’t run into the same problem.

You should also look at parking solutions that avoid a significant amount of wear and tear. Maintaining a parking lot can be expensive and this is likely an expense that you don’t want to incur. What you can do then is to focus on something that you can ultimately install and forget about. This allows you to choose a more sustainable option – and can even help you get LEED certification for being a leader in energy and environmental design.

Ultimately, you have to determine what’s important for your site. Look at where you are setting up your parking lot. Look at the vehicles and traffic that you will have on site. Then look at what environmental factors you are dealing with, such as areas that are privy to a lot of rainfall and flooding. You will need parking solutions that are conducive to all of these factors.

When you choose an eco-friendly design made from recycled plastic that is durable and UV stabilized, you won’t have the maintenance involved like you would with concrete and you get a design that is weighted so that even the heaviest of vehicles can park in your lot.

One single parking lot design doesn’t work with every commercial organization or establishment. Parking lots may experience drainage problems, soil erosion, sinking pavement, and other problems. When ordinary concrete pavement isn’t working, commercial organizations must look for other viable solutions to their parking lot issues.

A more proactive method in controlling the water and offering a stable surface to drive vehicles across that is also drawing interest to businesses across the country involves the use of permeable pavers. Permeable pavers from TRUEGRID are the newest pervious pavement solutions being used in all industries in need of parking solutions from stadiums to construction sites. TRUEGRID permeable pavers consist of a plastic grid made out of 100% post-consumer recycled HDPE to make it friendly with the environment. The surface of the pavers allows water to pass through and directly into the soil while the grid itself is strong enough to handle the weight of vehicles and large construction equipment. The grid may be filled in with gravel, soil or grass for an aesthetically-pleasing appearance.

Our parking lot design solutions are also ideal when there is an overflow of vehicles on grassy areas. People may need “parking on grass solutions” so vehicles do not get stuck on muddy or sinking ground when hosting outdoor events at state parks, festival areas and sports venues. Permeable pavers are ideal to provide a stable surface without ruining the look of the nearby grass. In fact, most visitors won’t be able to tell that there are permeable pavers in the ground as the grid will look like a patch of ordinary grass.

One thing to take into consideration when developing a parking lot design is that the commercial property owner will often be unable to re-stripe the parking spaces to allow for ADA accessible parking. A person should place up the appropriate signage to designate areas for accessible parking so that drivers will leave those spaces available for the disabled.

Get into the green movement when designing commercial parking lots with permeable paving solutions from TRUEGRID. With TRUEGRID permeable pavers installed, people will have better control of water runoff and drainage for a more sustainable parking lot surface. Contact TRUEGRID today to find out which of our paving solutions will work the best with the design of your parking lot.