Displaying items by tag: Award

Russia: LafargeHolcim Russia has won a Change Management Visionary award for its co-processing activities at its Ferzikovo cement plant in Kaluga. The company says it is the only business licensed to co-process waste by the Russian government. The Geocycle operation at the unit processed around 26,000t of solid municipal waste in 2017 sourced from the Kaluga and Moscow regions. The plant processed 1000t/month of plastic packaging waste in 2017 and this is expected to rise to 2000t/month in 2018. The company says that its treatment is aligned with European Union waste treatment principles.

US: Penn Waste has won the Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA) Silver Excellence Award in the Recycling Systems category.

Penn Waste is receiving the award for its York, Pennsylvania 45t/hr single stream system retrofit. The 2017 retrofit, provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), boosted capacity 130% to 45t/hr. It also added NRT optical sorting technology and a Max-AI Autonomous Quality Control (AQC) robotic sorter to improve container recovery and purity. The improvements resulted in a facility able to process 18,000t/month with more than 98% uptime and capturing 98% of recyclables. Penn Waste said that the company did not lose a single ton during the speedy retrofit and has since been running at 100% capacity with lower operating costs.

SWANA’s Excellence Awards Program recognises outstanding solid waste programs and facilities that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management through their commitment to utilizing effective technologies and processes in system design and operations, advancing worker and community health and safety and implementing successful public education and outreach programs. The award will be presented at SWANA’s annual conference in August 2018.

Cyprus: Vassiliko Cement has been awarded an honorary distinction by the Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development for its use of alternative fuels. Its cement plant has a substitution rate of over 40%. The cement producer was also praised for other environmental improvements to its production line including the use of fabric filters for dust removal, the equipment and mode of operation for reduced emissions of air pollutants, the equipment for reduced electricity consumption that includes vertical grinding mills and the equipment for cutting down on thermal energy consumption with the use of waste heat recovery.

Slovenia: Salonit Anhovo has won a bronze European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Sustainable Energy Award for progress in the use of non-hazardous solid recovered waste in its energy mix. The cement producer is increasing its alternative fuels substitution rate to over 75% from 60%. This will allow its plant to achieve a carbon emission intensity factor of 0.737kg CO₂/kg clinker, which is below the relevant European Union (EU) benchmark.

The EBRB also said that Salonit Anhovo presently operates at levels expected for the industry for 2025 in terms of specific heat consumption and for 2030 in terms of clinker ratio in cement and specific CO₂ emissions. The bank supported the company with a Euro15m loan in December 2016.

“We are very pleased to recognise Salonit Anhovo’s foray into alternative fuels with this award. This is an excellent example of how an innovative, tailor-made solution can benefit both finances and the environment. This investment will bring significant cost savings, contribute to the operational restructuring and support the resource efficiency of Salonit Anhovo by increasing the use of alternative fuel in the energy mix,” said EBRD director Dariusz Prasek.

Mexico: Geocycle operations based in Colima and Veracruz have received the ‘Environmental Excellence 2017’ award given by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) through the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PROFEPA). The award is the maximum recognition granted by PROFEPA to companies that demonstrate continuous improvement in their ecological performance, a commitment to environmental preservation and social responsibility with their surroundings.

"At Geocycle Mexico we have an on-going commitment to sustainable development, not only with our co-processing solution for industrial waste management, but also in our daily operations. We are aligned to a global vision, with strict levels to reduce and control our carbon footprint, and proud to say that as a company we are contributing to a better future," said Miguel Ladron de Guevara, director of Geocycle Mexico.

Geocycle, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, supports its parent company’s alternative fuels strategy around the world. LafargeHolcim runs cement plants at Orizaba in Veracruz and Tecoman in Colima.