US: Univar, a global chemical distributor, has reached a milestone in its sustainability efforts, by shipping 0.45Mt of alternative fuels from its waste chemical business, ChemCare, to Systech Environmental Corporation, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, for use at cement plants since 1989.

"Systech has been reusing industrial waste as fuel and raw material in the cement industry for almost 40 years. Our partnership with Univar and ChemCare is the epitome of matching company assets and expertise with a mutual interest in sustainability to achieve this incredible milestone," said Shawn McMullen, chief operating officer, Systech.

ChemCare provides a waste management service that collects both hazardous and non-hazardous waste products at customer locations in the US and Canada, and then works with partners in the waste disposal business to safely transport these materials to licensed third-party treatment, storage and disposal facilities.

Poland: Vive Textile Recycling will be able to supply more alternative fuels from textiles to Cementownia Ożarów following an expansion of its production line. The company signed a three-year contract in December 2015 to supply fuel to the subsidiary of CRH, according to the Nowy Przemysl newspaper. Vive Textile Recycling, the only Polish producer of alternative fuel from textiles, is now able to produce 16,000 - 18,000t/yr of fuel.

UAE: Arkan Cement is set to sign a US$32m deal to set up a waste-to-power unit for its Al Ain plant. Martti Malmivirta, the chairman of Arabian Finnish Waste Refining (ARAFIN) that is partnering with Arkan Cement on the project, told the National newspaper that the 1000t/day unit will be the first in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. A joint venture will be set up between Arkan and Arafin, which itself is a joint venture between Eera Waste Refining of Finland and Daud Group of Oman. The new fuel stream will substitute use of natural gas at the plant.

Romania: Holcim Romania has created a company to ‘test the digital environment’ called Start Casa Visio. The start-up has been made in conjunction with the cement producer’s energy-from-waste arm Geocyce, according to the Ziarul Financiar newspaper. Other than saying that it was not an online store Holcim Romania would not disclose any further information about the aims of the new business venture.