Carbon-negative concrete producer CarbiCrete is debuting its first product in the United States, with its CarbiFlo grid pavers leading the way to open up a much larger market for the Montreal-based company.

Drummondville, Que.-based Patio Drummond will be producing CarbiFlo, which is available for purchase through Maine company Gagne & Son, a maker, supplier and retailer of concrete products.

"We are very excited to expand our market presence into the U.S. — a key market for CarbiCrete," Jacob Homiller, CarbiCrete's CEO, said in a release. The U.S. is CarbiCrete's first sales expansion outside of Canada.

The company’s concrete is made without the need for cement, a carbon-intensive material. Instead, it relies on steel slag as the key ingredient. For every tonne of concrete produced by CarbiCrete’s process, 150 kilograms of carbon dioxide is averted.

The cement and concrete industry is one of the world's largest polluters, with one estimate suggesting it is responsible for approximately eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Patio Drummond produces concrete products for buildings, landscaping, outdoor furniture and agriculture. In 2023, it partnered with CarbiCrete to manufacture the carbon-negative concrete at its Drummondville facility.

Selling CarbiFlo

Gagne & Son, which operates a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, was interested in CarbiCrete’s lattice-patterned paving material because of its sustainability, Yuri Mytko, chief marketing officer of CarbiCrete, said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

It is assisting in the marketing of CarbiFlo’s sales in the U.S., training the sales teams of Patio Drummond and Gagne & Son to sell low-carbon products and understand the nuances of CarbiCrete’s process.

“What we had envisioned was the first time our products would be available in the U.S. would be through a U.S. manufacturer, to whom we would have licensed the technology,” Mytko said. “But this is an opportunity to get product in front of people before even having a licensing agreement,” with a U.S. manufacturer.

CarbiCrete is targeting price parity with traditional concrete in most markets, but the cost will depend on the producer’s distance to supplies of steel slag, he explained. The performance matches or exceeds ordinary concrete, Mykto added.

Homiller said he is looking forward to continuing the relationship with Gagne & Son to bring more CarbiCrete products to market. Any masonry or hardscape products made in a facility and shipped to a construction site can be made with CarbiCrete’s concrete, Mytko said.

Patio Drummond has taken steps to improve the sustainability of its materials beyond using CarbiCrete’s recipe. It developed its own concrete named VER+CO which is based on recycled sand from foundries.

Plans to license its technology globally

CarbiCrete is in active discussions with U.S. concrete makers to license its technology. The country’s steel mills would be an abundant source of steel slag, Mytko said, and the concrete producers are expected to be located close to the mills.

Licensing agreements in the U.S. would allow CarbiCrete to avoid the tariffs on Canadian goods that the U.S. government has promised to impose. The trade barriers “would present a pretty serious challenge” to CarbiCrete today, as all the production of its carbon-negative concrete is in Canada.

“It’s a little early to tell how that's all going to shake up. It would certainly impact an arrangement like this,” Mytko said about CarbiCrete's relationship with Patio Drummond and Gagne & Son. But he noted this is not its typical go-to-market strategy.

CarbiCrete is making moves into the European market; it is engaging with French construction material producer (and CarbiCrete investor) Saint-Gobain to deploy its technology.

Another major development to watch out for this year is its partnership with Canal Block in Port Colborne, Ont. CarbiCrete’s curing technology will be integrated into Canal Block’s concrete operations to serve future Ontario customers and is scheduled to begin making products in the coming months.

“We're looking forward to being deployed at a second facility in Canada,” Mytko said.