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Our Story

 

Argent is most famously known for recycling much of the concrete roadway from the old Bay Bridge when it was demolished.

Located in East Oakland, Argent Materials was founded in 2013 to meet a significant regional need for eco-friendly concrete and asphalt recycling. Argent’s core business is sorting, crushing, and recycling debris that results from construction & demolition projects including seismic retrofit, utility maintenance, structural demolition, roadway construction, parking lot construction and maintenance and even homeowner projects. Now, Argent is Oakland’s leading concrete and asphalt recycler, a critical partner in projects from filling potholes to building housing and transportation infrastructure.

Environmental stewardship, sustainability, and being community connected are cornerstone principles of Argent’s business ethos:

  • An integral part of creating a zero-waste Oakland: Argent recycles 99.9996% of everything received, preventing many thousands of tons of construction debris per year from being diverted to a landfill or creating the need for mining or quarrying.

  • Each year, Argent saves an estimated five-million vehicle miles traveled by heavy trucks that would otherwise have to drive to and from the North Bay or the Altamont area to dispose of broken concrete and asphalt at a landfill or pick up construction materials from a quarry.

  • Water is the only additive involved in its processing of recyclables.

  • Argent’s four-acre Baldwin Street facility includes a state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor recycling facility where some 1,500 tons are recycled each day.

  • Though the facility is in a highly industrial neighborhood, processing materials indoors contains noise and dust from impacting neighboring properties and screens most of the machinery from view of the public.

  • Argent hires locally. Over 50% of employees are Oaklanders, many hired from the Cypress Mandela Training Center, Men of Valor, Oakland Beautification Council, and other local job placement agencies.

  • Argent truly cares about the neighborhood. Employees conduct daily cleanup efforts on nearby Oakland streets to combat illegal dumping Argent Materials cleans and maintains 5 miles of East Oakland streets and 3 miles of railroad and BART tracks daily. Argent and our partners pick up over 4,000 pounds of garbage every week. We are honored to partner with our friends and neighbors to have a larger impact, including Nate Miley’s Illegal Dumping Pilot Program, AB & I Foundry, Good Hope Resource Center, Men of Valor, Oakland Beautification Council, the City of Oakland Public Works, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O Malley’s Office, and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.

The recycled rock and sand products created from the Argent’s Baldwin Street facility are purchased by a variety of customers for use on other construction projects. Government agencies such as Caltrans, BART, AC Transit, East Bay Municipal Utilities District and the City of Oakland rely heavily on Argent’s recycled products—as do nearly 2,000 construction firms, including companies like D-Line Constructors, McGuire and Hester, DeSilva Gates Construction, Beliveau Engineering Contractors, Inc., AJW Construction, Rosas Brothers Construction, Redgwick Construction Company, Ray’s Electric, Shimmick Construction, A & B Construction, Gallagher and Burk, S & S Trucking, ProVen Management, Inc. and a growing list of companies we proudly serve.

Argent is proud to have philanthropic partnerships with the East Bay SPCA, the Cypress Mandela Training Center, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley and many more. The company also works closely with government agencies such as the California Air Resources Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, California Environmental Protection Agency, and the City of Oakland to ensure full compliance with local zoning laws and air quality regulations. Argent is a member of Green Halo and Recycle Smart —which track materials recycled in the Bay Area—and is certified by the City of Oakland as a Locally Produced Goods Business Enterprise. Argent is proud to be an Oakland company and looks forward to continuing to serve the community.

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