Displaying items by tag: Bags

Mexico: Beumer Group has won a contract to supply Cooperativa La Cruz Azul’s cement plants with 14 new 5500 – 6000 bag/hr palletisers. The cement company made the decision to modernise palletising operations at its plants following a law change requiring cement to be packaged in 25kg bags, instead of 50kg, from the start of 2023. Beumer Group plans to deliver the first five palletisers in the third quarter of 2022. The other nine machines will follow by 2023.

The supplier said “Cruz Azul and Beumer Group have had a trustful and successful partnership for decades. The system provider has convinced with its highly developed and sustainable technology and a sophisticated concept, which will enable the cement manufacturer to achieve the required performance in its packaging terminal” It continued “Covid-19 presented a particular challenge in this project. Due to the pandemic, it was not possible for Beumer experts to be on site with the customer in person. All concepts were discussed, debated and agreed online and with the support of the local group company in Mexico City.”

Pakistan: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ordered cement producers to ensure that all cement bags that leave manufacturing sites include a tax stamp or unique identification marking from October 2022. The new requirement is intended to allow for the electronic monitoring of production and sales of goods, according to the Pakistan Today newspaper. This is part of a set of measures designed to increase tax revenue, reduce counterfeit products and stop smuggling.

Egypt: Mondi has acquired the paper bag converting lines from National Bag and Egypt Sack, two subsidiaries of Lafarge Cement Egypt, for an undisclosed sum. The production lines will increase Mondi’s capacity by around 150 – 180m bags/yr and strengthen its position in the Egyptian paper bag market. Local subsidiary Mondi Paper Bags already operates two plants in Egypt and with this acquisition will become a key supplier of paper bags to Lafarge Cement Egypt.

Claudio Fedalto, the chief operating officer of Mondi Paper Bags, said “We are excited to have signed a long-term supply agreement with Lafarge Cement Egypt and to servicing them locally in Egypt. The collaboration will offer Lafarge access to our latest innovations, industry expertise, strong plant network and customer service.”

Russia: Austria-based Mondi says it is continuing to operate a paper mill and three paper converting plants in Russia. All the units serve the local market. The company said that its operations in Russia represented around 12% of the group’s revenue by location of production in 2021 and, over the last three years, generated around 20% of the group’s underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Mondi has operated in Russia for over 22 years.

Mondi operates across more than 30 countries. It reported revenue of Euro7.7bn and underlying EBITDA of Euro1.5 billion in 2021. It produces paper and packaging products including bags for industrial products such as cement.

Peru: The Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion has initiated talks with cement producers, exporters and unions with a view to changing the standard national cement bag weight. The ministry recognised the 42.5kg/bag standard as a historical anachronism and unsafe. The Federation of Civil Construction Workers (FTCCP) has reported lower back injury as the main cause of ‘desertion of construction site.’ Beside the risk of injury, the standard has allegedly contributed to discrimination against older builders, because site managers often consider even those well below the state early retirement age of 55 to beunfit. The union has argued that 25kg bags would reduce the risk of harm to quality of life to 15%, while 15kg bags would entail a risk of just 5%.

Standards authority Produce will now hold a round table with stakeholders to review the possibility of a 41% weight reduction to the international standard of 25kg. Federation of Cement and Ready-Mix Workers of Peru (FETRACEPPE) general secretary Luis Gilvonio said that this will not solve problems overnight: where firms start instructing workers to carry two bags at a time, their net load will have increased. As such, he argued for continued awareness-raising alongside the law change.

Bagged cement accounted for 70% of Peruvian producers’ cement sales in 2021.

Costa Rica: Société Générale de Surveillance has awarded Holcim Costa Rica its Positive Packaging certificate for 100% packaging energy recovery in 2021. The company offset the 1500t carbon footprint of its packaging production for the year by sorting and co-processing 14,000t of paper as fuel. It sourced the paper from its customer cement bag return scheme and through municipal recycling services run by fellow Holcim subsidiary Geocycle Costa Rica.

Holcim Costa Rica sustainability coordinator Catalina Mora said “Waste management is a global challenge, so this project has a direct impact on our contribution as a company to the vision of sustainability for the country.”

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has announced the launch of its ECOPlanet slag cement. It says the product has a 30% lower carbon footprint than other general purposes products. The company will sell 40kg bags of cement in both paper and plastic bags.

Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer Horia Adrian said, “Winning with purpose requires delivering our customer promise while also caring for the planet.” He added, “We see a growing interest in building greener structures in the Philippines. ECOPlanet enables us to provide our partners with the best balance of delivering strength and durability while helping make construction more respectful of the environment. It is another key step in our promise to build greener, smarter and for all in the Philippines.”

Colombia: Dow Jones has named Grupo Argos in its Sustainability Index 2021, the company’s ninth time appearing in the ranking. It achieved its highest ratings in materiality, risk management, environmental reporting, climate change strategy, social reporting and human rights. The group said that the listing constitutes its recognition as the most sustainable cement company in the world. Its sustainable initiatives include offering collection of its used cement bags, supplying all the electricity for its Colombian operations from renewable sources and currently having three credit facilities linked to environmental, social and governance indicators.

Legal and sustainability vice-president Maria Isabel Echeverri said “At Argos, we are greatly satisfied with this result which places us as a world benchmark in sustainability and reassures our commitment to closing gaps and implementing best practices in social, environmental, financial and corporate governance matters. This drives us to continue moving forward in creating social value to build the dreams of housing and infrastructure for millions of people.”

US: Lehigh Hanson has launched a new bag design for its EcoCemPLC product, a Portland Limestone Cement. Features of the refreshed packaging design for EcoCemPLC include the ‘reduced carbon footprint’ icon, featured prominently in the new bag design to emphasise EcoCemPLC’s carbon-reduction benefit. The newly designed bag will be released to retail and dealers in October 2021.

“The new bag design and transition to EcoCemPLC is about more than aesthetics - it’s about clearly communicating the proven benefits of EcoCemPLC to sustainably minded customers,” said Alex Car, president of Lehigh Hanson’s Northeast Region.

UK: Mannok has commissioned a Euro2.1m bagging system supplied by Germany-based Haver & Boecker. The order included a Roto-Packer Adams 10 spout bag filling system and a new automatic film reel changer, designed to run at 1200 bags/hr. Installation took place in the second quarter of 2021 and the new bagging unit is now in production. The upgrade now gives Mannok the capacity to pack around 50t/hr of cement in weatherproof bags.

Chief executive officer Liam McCaffrey said, “This is a major investment in our Cement operations which completes the second phase of our investment in our weatherproof bagging line, upgrading it from a single to a double bagging line with a significant increase in output capacity. Our initial investment to bring our weatherproof polyethylene bags to the market was in response to demand from Great Britain-based merchants and we later introduced the bags to the Irish market, where the response was equally positive.”

The cement producer operates an integrated plant at Derrylin, Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. It previously installed a weatherproof bagging line in 2018 that allows it to extend its range of bagged cements.