Displaying items by tag: Waste management

Philippines: Republic Cement is supporting efforts to remove plastic pollution from the sea by co-processing the waste in its cement production. The Business Mirror newspaper has reported that the cement producer has partnered with plastic waste collector Pure Oceans to take delivery of shipments cleaned up from off the coasts of Batangas and Davao.

Republic Cement chief executive officer Roman Menz said "Republic Cement is proud to partner with organisations such as Pure Oceans. Their deep commitment towards safeguarding the environment, while making significant contributions to the Philippine plastic waste crisis, is an inspiration for us to continue doing what we do in order to make a tangible impact on our communities, towards building a greener and stronger republic."

Through its partnerships with local fishing communities, Pure Oceans diverted 1.93m bags of plastic waste over the three years prior to the start of October 2022.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has signed a deal to receive 6.5t/yr of shredded waste from Bunawan municipality’s Panacan barangay for co-processing as alternative fuel (AF) in its cement production. SeeNews has reported that Holcim’s waste management subsidiary GeoCycle will process the AF. The partners aim to increase the volume of deliveries in future.

Davao cement plant manager Sam Manlosa said, “We are proud to provide our host barangay Panacan a sustainable waste management solution and thankful for their trust. We hope this partnership will further expand to other communities and the entire city of Davao so we can be a stronger partner in its sustainable progress.”

Panacan is the 28th community throughout the Philippines to enter into a waste management partnership with Holcim Philippines, and its 18th new partner in 2022. In August 2022, the company secured deliveries of waste collected in Bulacan province’s Binangonan, Cainta and Taytay municipalities in Rizal province for co-processing at its Bulacan cement plant.

Canada: Lehigh Cement has initiated the administrative process to begin the use of alternative fuels (AF) in cement production at its Picton cement plant in Ontario. Under the company’s plans, the plant will substitute 200t/day of AF for coal and petcoke at the plant. Possible AF sources include excess seed from farm feed production in Ontario. The Picton cement plant previously reduced its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 20% through assorted sustainability initiatives.

Picton plant manager Carsten Schraeder said that the move will support Canada’s 2030 emission reduction plan, and also take pressure off landfill sites.

India: Coimbatore Municipal City Corporation says that it has reached a rate of 54,800t/yr in refuse derived fuel (RDF) deliveries to cement plants in Tamil Nadu's Ariyalur District. The Indian Express newspaper has reported that the corporation collects 1000t/day of waste, from which its sorts 150t/day of non-biodegradable waste into RDF. It has launched landfill mining at a 26.7ha tip in Vellalore, where it expects to extract several tens of thousands of tonnes more of non-biodegradable waste.

Kuwait: Kuwait City Cement has received government approval for its plan to establish a municipal solid waste (MSW) plant. The Al Qabas newspaper has reported that, when commissioned, the plant will supply refuse-derived fuel to the country’s cement industry.

Kuwait cement previously applied for a licence to burn municipal waste fractions at its Shuaiba, Ahmadi, cement plant in 2019.

Argentina: Geocycle plans to double the refuse-derived fuel (RDF) production capacity of its Piedra Blanca waste management plant in Córdoba in order to process up to 100,000t/yr of waste into RDF. The Holcim subsidiary will invest US$5m in the expansion. The plant received 78,600t of industrial waste, 57,000t of urban waste and 4400t of waste tyres in 2021 and produced RDF for co-processing in Holcim Argentina’s Jujuy, Malagueño and Mendoza cement plants’ cement production. The work includes the construction of a new 200m access road using EcoPact reduced-CO₂ concrete. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2022.

General manager Mariano Bollo said "We started in 2020 with a small plant. In 2021 we expanded it, and in 2022 we are doubling its capacity. In the coming months and years, we will grow even more.” Bollow expressed his hope to process 100% of all waste received at the site into RDF.

India: ACC and Ambuja Cements have together installed a Geocycle Bubble Barrier plastic waste separator in Bhakra Beas Management Board Lake at Sunder Nagar, Himachal Pradesh. The installation will collect the waste for use as refuse-derived fuel at ACC’s Gagal cement plant in the state.

The Holcim India subsidiaries’ first such installation, on the Mantola Canal in Uttar Pradesh, has collected 500t of plastic waste since its commissioning in April 2021, and is targetting a total of 2400t in 2022.

Holcim India CEO and managing director Neeraj Akhoury said "We are committed to building a sustainable future by adopting clean and green technologies. Our efforts and expertise in co-processing has created a unique solution to sustainable disposal of the marine plastic waste that creates pollution. This initiative will also contribute towards promoting circular economy. Taking this mission ahead, we will continue our efforts to implement this innovative technology across the country."

UK: Netherlands-based N+P has acquired the Crayford Material Recycling Facility (MRF) in South-East London from Viridor for an undisclosed sum. The facility processes 330,000t/yr of dry mixed recyclables from Greater London, the South and South-East of the UK. It employs 260 people.

This is the third acquisition by N+P since it started a strategic partnership with commodities trading company Mercuria in April 2021 and more are planned. N+P has invested Euro90m in the UK in 2021 and it plans to invest the same amount in 2022. This is part of the company’s overall Euro239m investment between 2021 and 2022. The key driver of this expansion is to accelerate the production of N+P’s alternative fuel product Subcoal. N+P plans to increase throughput at Crayford to 500,000t/yr and it wants to add 13 alternative fuel production plants to its operations in Europe by 2026, producing over 5Mt/yr of alternative fuels per year.

“N+P’s rationale for acquiring the London location is driven by the company’s desire to expand production in locations throughout the UK and diversify its activities. Ultimately, having both an alternative fuel production location as well as a MRF operation at the same location optimises the complete value chain for waste. N+P believes the non-recyclable waste fraction can play a significant role in the transition to cleaner future proof energy sources,” said Stijn Jennissen, the chief commercial officer at N+P.

Netherlands: N+P Group acquired the Rotterdam Waalhavenweg waste sorting plant in South Holland from PreZero Nederland on 1 January 2022. N+P Group’s chief executive officer Karel Jennissen welcomed colleagues at the newly acquired location into the company.

Jennissen said “I am proud that [plant manager] Klaas Wierda and I could raise our flag.” He added enigmatically “Another flag is also on its way to a new location in the UK.”

Philippines: Holcim Philippines and its waste management subsidiary Geocycle have together inaugurated a waste processing plant and alternative fuels (AF) storage facility at the former’s Bulacan cement plant. The facilities consist of municipal solid waste (MSW) shredding equipment and a 5400m² warehouse. The installation is part of a US$2.41m investment by Holcim Philippines in the Bulacan plant, aimed at reducing its CO₂ footprint and increasing the circularity of its operations. The plant will produce its AF from MSW from the Boac municipality.

President and CEO Horia Adrian said “This initiative is part of our bigger commitment to make our operations more sustainable. These facilities will further reduce our carbon footprint and energy costs, while providing our partners with a safe and environmentally sound waste management option though our co-processing technology. We are excited to continue these projects to help us get closer to our long-term ambition of using 70% AF in cement production, instead of coal."