Spain: Cemex has signed a Euro117m deal with the local government to convert the land used by the Gádor cement plant in Almeria for use by new projects. These will include projects in solar and wind power generation, waste fuel production from plastics and biomass and a new concrete batching plant, according to Teleprensa. The initiative is intended to create around 400 jobs.

The cement producer has also signed a similar agreement for its Lloseta in Baleares. The company announced in mid-October 2018 that it was planning to close the two plants due to reduced demand for cement and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations.

UK: Fraser Cutting has been appointed as the Hazardous Waste Manager at Andusia Recovered Fuels. He will be dealing with hazardous waste enquiries as well as assisting with the sourcing and disposal of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF).

Cutting holds 32 years in the hazardous waste sector. He started out at Cory Waste Management, before moving to Cleanaway as Manager at the Cambridge Waste Management Centre. He then moved to manage the waste arising at a large oil refinery and eventually spent the last 10 years managing the waste from a large regional hospital for the NHS.

US: LafargeHolcim’s Ravena cement plant in New York is considering burning tyres as an alternative fuel. Environmental Director Kevin G Bretz told Coeymans town officials that the cement producer has ‘developed relationships’ and held ‘preliminary discussions’ with potential tyre suppliers, according to the Times Union newspaper. The cement producer was hoping to use an approval by the state Department of Environmental Conservation granted in 2006 that gave permission for it to burn up to 4.8 million tyres annually at the plant. However, this Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) expired in mid-2018.

UAE: Pioneer Cement had signed a deal with Emirates RDF to use refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at its plant in Ras Al-Khaimah. The subsidiary of Oman’s Raysut Cement says it will be one of the first cement plants in the region to use waste fuel to meet the government’s sustainability vision, according to the Al Riyadh newspaper.

Emirates RDF operates a plant at Umm Al Quwain. It is a US$40m joint venture developed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme co-financed by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment signing a concession agreement with its shareholders which include the UAE-based contractor, BESIX, Ajman-based Tech Group and Finland-based Griffin Refineries. Emirates RDF will process household waste from Ajman and Umm Al Quwain in the Northern Emirates. Trial RDF production at Emirates RDF is scheduled to start in the summer of 2019 and full production is planned for early 2020.