Displaying items by tag: Government

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.

New Zealand: Golden Bay Cement has announced plans with Waste Management and the government to process tyres at its plant in Portland. The move follows the acquisition by Waste Management of the country’s largest tyre recycling business in 2016. The company is investing in shredders with funding from the Ministry for the Environment. It plans to have a shredding capacity of 30,000t/yr in place in Auckland by October 2017 with a unit to become operational in the South Island in early 2018.

Spain: Cementos Cosmos has stopped exports from its Niebla cement plant due to an increase in the price of petcoke. The subsidiary of Brazil’s Votorantim has also implemented a Temporary Regulation of Employment from June 2017 to May 2018 that will enable it to suspend workers or reduce working hours, according to the Huelva Información newspaper. The cement producer says it is waiting for planning permission to install a dosing system for waste fuels that will cut it fuel bill. However, the local community has opposed attempts to use alternative waste fuels previously.

Ireland: An Bord Pleanála (ABP), a government planning body, will decide by 8 August 2017 on a planning appeal by Irish Cements about its proposed upgrade at its Limerick cement plant. The Euro10m upgrade includes the development of land to facilitate on site handling, storage and introduction of alternative fuels with conveyor kiln, storage tanks, uploading station, handling building, cooling tower and associated ancillary work. If the appeal is successful then the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide if the cement producer can have a licence to burn waste fuels at the site, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. Irish Cements has faced local opposition against its plans for the site.

UK: The Environmental Services Association has called for the UK planning system to be more closely aligned with the so-called Circular Economy. It has laid out a number of recommendations in a report entitled ‘Planning for a Circular Economy.’ In its report it outlines key aspects of the current planning system that it says can frustrate the waste industry.

“Many local authorities need to let go of the strict control culture that has prevailed in one form or another since the ‘landfill era’ and instead adopt a more responsive approach to planning for waste management that better recognises the variable and dynamic nature of the space in which our industry now operates. Our industry increasingly resembles that of any other logistics business with materials moved around as markets dictate,” commented ESA’s Policy Advisor Stephen Freeland. He added that few other sectors face the same planning and political obsession about the origin of material or commodities, and where these should be transported to, as the waste industry.

Trinidad & Tobago: Kazim Hosein, the minister of Local Government and Rural Development, is considering allowing the Trinidad Cement company to burn waste fuels at its cement plant. This follows a visit by Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon to the plant, according to the Trinidad Express newspaper. The cement producer has proposed burning waste fuels as part of an expansion plan.

Ireland: Limerick City and County Council has given permission for Irish Cement to co-process alternative fuels at its local cement plant. Permission has been granted subject to 16 conditions, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. The cement producer has been seeking a licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres at its plant but it has faced local opposition.

Lithuania: The Lithuanian Parliament Committee on Environment Protection is evaluating alternative fuels options at the Akmenes Cementas plant including refuse-derived fuel (RDF), industrial waste and sewage sludge. The cement producer has presented a Euro7m plan to install new equipment to allow it to use up to 150,000t/yr of waste fuels, according to the Lithuanian News Agency. It has also asked the government to ensure that its can use waste produced in Lithuania to cut its costs and complete internationally.

Ireland: Irish Cement has until the end of March 2017 to submit further information to the local government about its plans to upgrade its cement plant in Limerick to allow it to co-process alternative fuels. The company is waiting for planning permission for a 10-year licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres in cement production, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. However, the application has been delayed twice following opposition by local residents.

India: The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has arranged a deal with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palik (BBMP), an administrative city council body, to remove excess refuse derived fuel (RDF) in Bangalore. The agreement has arranged to transport 1.3Mt of RDF that has accumulated at six recycling plants in the city for a cost of just under US$0.5m, according to the Hindu newspaper.

High transport costs to move the PDF to cement plants in the north of Karnataka despite giving the RDF to the plants for free have been blamed for the excess of RDF in Bangalore in the south of the state. As an interim measure BBMP officials have asked cement plants to use Corporate Social Responsibility funds to cover the costs of transporting the RDF while it arranges policy on the matter. The government body may seek to ask the state government to subsidise transport costs for the RDF.