Displaying items by tag: Recycling

India: Recycling equipment manufacturer Fornnax Technology has launched the R-MAX3300, its largest secondary shredder, at IFAT India 2025 in Mumbai on 14 October 2025. The machine is designed to process low-density waste streams such as municipal solid waste, commercial and industrial waste, bulky waste, legacy waste, wood waste and construction and demolition waste. The R-MAX3300 produces refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF) with particle sizes between 30 and 50mm.

Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology Jignesh Kundaria said “With the rising challenges of waste management in India and globally, this machine is not just a product; it’s a powerful tool for change. We engineered it to handle the most difficult waste streams with unparalleled efficiency, turning what was once considered unusable waste into a valuable resource. It directly addresses the urgent demand for effective, large-scale shredding technology that can support cement kilns and waste-to-energy facilities in achieving the desired output.”

According to the company, India currently generates over 160,000t/day of municipal solid waste. Simultaneously, the global industrial shredder market is expected to grow at a 5-6% CAGR, driven by stricter recycling regulations and increasing waste generation.

Belgium: Etex and Heidelberg Materials have joined forces on CEMLOOP XL, an industrial-scale project co-funded by the EU’s LIFE Programme that aims to revolutionise fibre cement recycling through a fully closed-loop process integrating carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology. According to a press release by Etex, this will reduce CO₂ emissions in cement production by at least 20% and cut energy consumption in the process by 15%.

The project will combine the two companies' expertise to create a fully circular process where waste fibre cement is transformed into high-quality secondary raw material to produce low-carbon cement that will be reused in new fibre cement products. Etex, in collaboration with the Jacobs Group, is developing a recycled fibre cement paste (RFCP) process that converts waste from Etex’s production lines and the wider construction sector into reusable material and avoids landfilling. A new recycling facility in Hemiksem, near Antwerp, is under construction and scheduled for completion by mid-2026.

At Heidelberg Materials’ Lixhe cement plant in Liège, the company is implementing CCLIX, a carbonation process that treats RFCP with CO₂ captured from kiln exhaust gases. This produces carbonated RFCP (cRFCP), which regains cementitious properties and can partially replace clinker in low-carbon cement production. A dedicated carbonation reactor is set to be commissioned at Lixhe by the end of 2028.

Etex says that CEMLOOP XL will prevent 60,000t/yr of fibre cement waste, save 100,000t/yr  of raw limestone, and capture or avoid around 900kg of CO₂ for each tonne of RFCP produced. This process combines utilisation and storage in one step - the captured CO₂ becomes chemically bound within the new product, acting as a permanent CO₂ sink.

Eric Bertrand, chief innovation officer at Etex, said “By 2030, we aim for over 20% of our inputs to come from circular sources and to send zero waste to landfill. Fibre cement plays a central role in this transformation. For the first time, it will follow a fully circular journey - a milestone only made possible through strong partnerships like this with Heidelberg Materials.”

South Korea: The Ministry of Environment has announced a pilot project to recycle waste fabric scraps from sewing factories into alternative fuel for the cement industry. The agreement has been signed with: textile companies Pang Rim, Sewang, Sinhan Spinning & Textile; cement companies Ssangyong C&E and Asia Cement; and the Korea Recycling Service Agency (KORA). It expands on an earlier initiative launched in 2024 with four Seoul districts.

Under the project, fabric scraps that were previously incinerated or landfilled will be separated, sorted and processed into intermediate fuel, which cement plants will use in the production process. The Ministry said that KORA will support raw material supply and recycling logistics, while cement firms will adopt the fabric-derived fuel to reduce waste and fossil fuel use.

Kim Go-eung, Director General of the Resources Circulation Bureau, said “The separation, sorting and recycling of waste are essential elements for producing high-quality recycled raw materials. To establish a circular system, we will continue to identify and expand various measures so that the supply of excellent recycled raw materials and the securing of demand sources can be balanced.”

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement’s joint project with the city of Kitakyushu to pilot carbon recycled materials in public infrastructure has been selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s 2024 grant programme.

Centred around the producer’s Kyushu plant in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu, the project will recycle CO₂ and waste cement from local sources for use in municipal construction. Mitsubishi UBE Cement said it aims to establish a model for resource circulation that can be expanded nationwide.

Portugal: Cimpor will invest €155m in establishing a new research and development centre focused on sustainable construction, CO₂ reduction and digital transformation. The investment will also cover the modernisation of Kiln 7 at the producer’s Alhandra cement plant. The new centre will focus on technologies such as low-clinker cement development, carbon capture and alternative fuels, using recycled concrete and 3D printing. The building itself will incorporate calcined clay-based cement and recycled aggregates.

The new centre will create over 100 jobs and serve as a hub for collaboration with universities and startups, as well as serve as a location for conferences and workshops. The building will operate as a ‘living lab’, with real-time monitoring of its thermal and structural performance and energy consumption.

The chair of Cimpor Global Holdings, Suat Çalbiyik, said “In 2018, we operated only in Portugal and Cape Verde with around 1800 employees. Today, we are the world’s third-largest cement group… with 8000 employees in 14 countries and a production capacity of 112.5Mt/yr of cement.”

UK: LKAB Minerals and Forterra have partnered to produce recycled calcined clay from unwanted bricks as a traditional cement replacement, with production set to begin at LKAB’s Flixborough plant in Scunthorpe in June 2025. The material is made by crushing bricks sourced from Forterra’s Kings Dyke site in Peterborough.

LKAB Minerals UK managing director Steve Handscomb said “The traditional manufacturing and materials industries have to work harder than other less energy intensive industries, and need significant investments to upgrade equipment. We are committed to playing a role in the transition. In fact, we are already a significant producer of GGBS, and in our minerals division, 45% of the minerals we sell are from recycled sources or by-products.”

Lithuania: Recycling company Ekobāze is set to construct a plastic byproducts and solid recovered fuel (SRF) processing complex in the Akmenė Free Economic Zone. The project is valued at about €12m and received €10m in EU financing, according to BNS News. It will create 60 new jobs. The complex will supply SRF to Akmenės Cementas, the sole cement producer in Lithuania, utilising post-consumer plastic unsuitable for recycling in its production processes. Ekobāze will process other plastic into pellets. Construction will begin at the end of 2025, with production starting in early 2027.

Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa has acquired a 20% stake in Amita Prakarsa Hijau, a company that specialises in the recycling of industrial and municipal refuse and biomass-derived materials into alternative fuel for the cement industry. The deal is valued at US$120,000 and was completed on 8 October 2024.

Canada: Heidelberg Materials has invested in EnviCore, a Canada-based startup that is developing low-carbon solutions. Together, the companies will focus on increasing the use of recycled construction and demolition materials as supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). This collaboration includes planning a pilot SCM production facility near one of Heidelberg Materials' recycling hubs, pending an upcoming feasibility study. Heidelberg Materials has also acquired a minority stake in EnviCore.

Katharina Beumelbur, chief sustainability and new technologies officer and member of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials, said “EnviCore’s novel approach has the potential to unlock new possibilities of increasing the amount of recycled materials we use in our products. This could pave the way to further reduce our need for virgin materials, contributing towards preserving valuable natural resources and protecting our environment.”

Spain: Packaging and paper manufacturer Mondi has co-founded Paper Sacks Go Circular Spain, an alliance aimed at enhancing the circularity of used paper bags within the construction sector. The alliance consists of 12 European companies collaborating to eventually elevate recycling processes for construction materials like cement, plaster and insulation. The alliance will start with paper bags, then expanding to other streams such as construction and demolition materials. The initiative aligns with the goal of increasing the recovery rate of construction byproducts in Spain, currently at 48%, according to the latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute.

Circular economy manager at Mondi Flexible Packaging, Carlos Martinez Ezquerra, said "This initiative demonstrates Mondi’s commitment to collaborating with industry partners across the value chain to increase recycling rates for used paper bags. It creates a scalable approach for the rest of Europe and other industries, leading to a reduction in ‘waste’ management costs and a significant increase in the valorisation rate, and supports transparency and traceability of the circular economy. We are proud to be one of the founding initiators."