Displaying items by tag: waste

Mexico: Regenera, a subsidiary of Cemex, has launched a pilot project at its Broquers Ambiental plant in Querétaro to transform the city’s organic waste into alternative fuel using a drying process known as ‘biosecado’. This initiative makes Querétaro the first zero waste municipality in Mexico, according to the company. The plant now processes almost 90% of the municipality’s waste, transforming over 8000t monthly into biomass to reduce the amount of material sent to landfill.

Vice president of urban solutions at Cemex Mexico, Antonio Balmori, said "This project that we started today at our Broquers Ambiental plant excites me very much because it will take the city of Querétaro to the next level in waste management, where we will seek to take advantage of 100% of the urban solid waste generated in the municipality."

Australia: Veolia ANZ and ResourceCo have secured a contract to supply over 1Mt of refuse derived fuel (RDF) from their Adelaide facility to Adbri Cement's Birkenhead plant, aiming to replace natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to Veolia, around 1.5Mt of waste will be diverted from landfill during the course of the contract.

Brett Brown, chief operating officer at Adbri, said "Adbri has pioneered the use of RDF in Australia. Cement manufacturing is energy intensive, and the use of alternative fuels is one of the levers we are using to reduce our emissions as part of our goal of net zero by 2050."

India: Kerala has converted approximately 48,000t of non-recyclable waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use in cement plants, from the period of January - December 2023. The Department of Local Self-Government reported that 29,826t originated from the government sector and 18,205t from the private sector. The material was collected from households and shops, separated at collection facilities and sent to cement plants for co-processing. The local authorities managed the collection and separation of dry waste.

The state has ‘significantly’ invested in infrastructure for dry waste storage, with 167 resource recovery facilities, 1981 collection facilities, 20,904 mini collection facilities, and 57 storage warehouses over 45,522m². The Haritha Mithram mobile app has led to an increase in door-to-door waste collection and the volume of dry waste processed. The state has added 41 more warehouses so far in 2024 to manage the increased waste collection.

Thailand: Saraburi, which houses Thailand’s key cement plants, is expected to start converting waste to energy in a project led by the Thai Cement Manufacturers Association (TCMA). TCMA has developed a pilot project to create ‘ignitable waste pallets’, which will replace imported coal in cement production, according to TCMA chair Dr Chana Poomee. The process involves using waste from mining, cement plants and local communities to produce fuel, focusing on waste that cannot be reused or recycled.

Seven cement plants are located in the Tan Diao subdistrict due to its proximity to limestone mountains essential for cement production. The province is facing a growing waste management problem, owing to urbanisation and the expansion of agribusiness in the area. ‘Saraburi Sandbox’ project, a public-private-people partnership (PPP), seeks to address these issues.

Kittipong Promwong, president of the National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Office, believes the Saraburi Sandbox is crucial to the government's commitment to lowering CO₂ emissions.

Greece: Switzerland-based Holcim has acquired waste management company W.A.T.T. Recycling. W.A.T.T. Recycling commands 150,000t/yr of municipal solid waste (MSW) processing capacity and is a growing supplier of alternative fuels (AF) to the local market. The completion coincides with two other bolt-on acquisitions by Holcim in the building materials sectors of Spain and the UK.

Holcim’s Europe regional head Miljan Gutovic said “We are off to a strong start in 2024 with three strategic acquisitions. Fully in line with our strategy, they expand our range of innovative and sustainable solutions in high-growth markets. I warmly welcome employees of all three companies into the Holcim family to open our next chapter of green growth together.”

Europe: The European Parliament voted in favour of multiple amendments to the European Commission’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on 22 November 2023. The amendments remove, modify or make non-binding the PPWR’s 2040 reuse targets. Meanwhile, 2030 targets were made adjustable to recycling rates. Total packaging volumes are still required to drop by 5% by 2030 and by 15% by 2040 in each member state.

Sustainability lobbying organisation Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) described the introduction of recycling rates into a lower schema of waste targets as ‘comparing apples with pears.’ ECOS attributed the amendments to a ‘barrage’ of false claims, scaremongering and lobbying from industry players.

ECOS programme manager Mathias Falkenberg said “This decision will not sufficiently address rising plastic and packaging waste or the pollution crisis. The European Parliament has just weakened a perfectly feasible solution to tackle throwaway culture without offering an alternative. It is very frustrating that the European Commission’s progressive prevention and reuse agenda has not received full support from the Parliament today.”

ECOS founded the Alliance for Low-Carbon Cement & Concrete (ALCCC), an association of companies focused on alternative building materials production, in May 2023.

Uganda: Hima Cement has awarded a contract to Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda to supply waste plastics for use as alternative fuel (AF) at the cement producer’s plant in Kasese. Under the contract, Holcim subsidiary Geocycle will collect and process the waste.

PML Daily News has reported that Hima Cement CEO Jean-Michel Pons said “As part of our decarbonisation and circular economy approach, we utilise materials at the end of their lifecycle as AF, such as industrial wastes like plastics and agricultural wastes like biomass, thus reducing the carbon intensity of our cement, while offering a unique solution to waste challenges.”

Spain: Holcim España invested Euro4m in an upgrade to its 1.5Mt/yr Carboneras cement plant in Almería. Alimarket-Construction News has reported that the upgrade will raise the plant’s alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate to 70% and enable it to dispose of 50,000t/yr of waste through co-processing it as AF. Holcim España expects this to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 22,000t/yr.

Philippines: Republic Cement has signed a deal with ACS Manufacturing to receive sorted plastic waste. Republic Cement’s waste management subsidiary Ecoloop will shred the waste to produce alternative fuel (AF) for use in the company’s cement production.

The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that Ecoloop managing director Angela Edralin-Valencia said “Republic Cement remains committed to addressing the pervasive plastic pollution problem in the country by collaborating with various organisations and local government units for proper waste disposal.”

Mexico: Cemex Mexico subsitituted 36% of it cement fuel with alternative fuel (AF) in 2022. This exceeds the Mexican cement industry’s target for 2030, of 32%. Mexico Business News has reported that the producer used 1.05Mt of AF across its operations. This reduced its CO₂ emissions by 1.8Mt, and prevented 850,000t of methane emissions from being generated in landfill. Cemex Mexico’s Huichapan cement plant in Hidalgo set the company record for the year, with 207,000t of AF co-processed in its cement production. It produced 3.2Mt of cement for the Bajio, Central, Central-North, Laguna and Southeast Mexico markets.

Sustainability Manager Carlos Medina said "Last year’s results motivate us to intensify our efforts and uphold good practices that benefit communities and the environment. We will keep promoting environmentally friendly solutions in all our operations, as we are convinced that all social actors must collaborate to lay the foundations for a better future."