Building A Better Future: B20 Club Member Spotlight: Ozinga

(B20 Club of Indiana) For B20 Club member Ozinga, building a better future for coworkers, communities and customers is all in a day’s work. Founded in 1928 as a small coal yard, this fourth-generation family-owned business is now a premier supplier of concrete, materials, energy, and logistics solutions.

Ozinga is proud to have never shied away from a challenge or a chance to innovate, especially when it comes to using alternative fuels.

For five years now, Ozinga has used B20 biodiesel—a cleaner, renewable form of diesel fuel—in their exceptional fleet. By using B20, Ozinga is reducing their carbon footprint and improving air quality in the communities it serves.

“We’re always looking for cleaner fuels to use,” said Jeff Bonnema, vice president of fleet management at Ozinga. “Not only is biodiesel clean, but it’s also benefitting American farmers and it’s a great performing fuel. There’s no costly infrastructure to put in place before switching to biodiesel either, making it the perfect opportunity to get into alternative fuel sources.”

Ozinga uses 900,000 gallons of B20 annually to fuel more than 130 vehicles. Through their use of B20, Ozinga is providing an estimated $107,000 in health benefits annually, which are realized by community members through reduced sick days, decreased risk of cancer, and fewer or lessened asthma attacks. In addition to biodiesel, Ozinga has been furthering their sustainability efforts through their use of natural gas trucks since 2012.

“We’re a local business—we run through local streets with homes and businesses—we know we affect our community, and we want to make our environment better for generations to come,” said Bonnema.

Ozinga is excited to continue building a better future by joining the B20 Club of Indiana.

“At Ozinga, we like to go the extra mile to push the industry in the right direction. We know it can be difficult to venture beyond what your business has always had success with, and we want to do our part to make sure businesses know the economic and environmental benefits of B20. Joining the B20 Club is a great way for us to help get the word out.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and distillers corn oil, biodiesel and renewable diesel are better, cleaner fuels that are available now for use in existing diesel engines without modification. These low-carbon, low-cost fuels are helping to reduce emissions today from trucks, buses, emergency vehicles and large equipment. Both are derived from renewable feedstocks and their use does not typically require expensive investments in refueling or recharging infrastructure. The market for these fuels has grown as the U.S. consumed about 3 billion gallons of biobased diesel fuel in 2020 and the market is set to double by 2030.