Displaying items by tag: Plastic
Canada: Ash Grove Mississauga cement plant has entered a proposal with the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks to burn alternative fuels. This includes materials such as construction and demolition materials, paper fibre, wood, plastic and industrial rubber, according to the Insauga newspaper. Local residents have expressed concerns about potential toxicity and environmental impacts due to emissions from the plant entering the atmosphere. The association reportedly objected to a previous application allowing higher emissions levels at the plant. Ash Grove will address these concerns in a public meeting scheduled for 12 September 2024.
Votorantim Cimentos to build new alternative fuel plant in Sarria
03 September 2024Spain: Votorantim Cimentos will construct a solid recovered fuel (SRF) production plant at its subsidiary Cementos Cosmos’ plant in Oural, aiming to produce up to 0.15Mt/yr of alternative fuel, reports Digital Economia newspaper. The facility, spanning 5800m2, will utilise non-recyclable industrial byproducts and various discarded materials from the local community such as plastic, paper and wood, to partially fuel the combustion in its cement kilns. The plant, currently in the public exhibition phase, will start production at 60% capacity, producing 85,000t/yr of alternative fuel. Plans include ramping up to full capacity to produce roughly 0.15Mt/yr. The new plant will create 15 jobs.
Votorantim Cimentos has not detailed the investment in the new facility, although the budget presented to the local council amounts to €12m.
Republic Cement's Ecoloop diverts record number of plastic sachets for use in cement production
02 September 2024Philippines: Republic Cement's resource recovery group, Ecoloop, has diverted 21.4 billion plastic sachets in 2023, equating to 110,000t of discarded materials utilised as alternative fuel in cement co-processing. This marks a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions per ton of cement, according to The Philippine Star newspaper.
Ecoloop director Angela Edralin-Valencia said "This achievement represents a significant amount of materials diverted from landfills and bodies of water, such as oceans and urban waterways and further underscores Republic Cement’s commitment to environmental stewardship and circular economy principles."
Canada: Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, announced the reinvestment of up to US$1.6m from industrial pollution pricing proceeds into a new emissions reduction project at St Marys Cement in St Marys, Ontario. This initiative will involve the installation of a new kiln utilising low-carbon fuels, including discarded plastics, to reduce the use of carbon-intensive fuels used in the manufacturing process by up to 30%. The project aims for a reduction of over 39,900t of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, according to Foreign Affairs news.
South Korea: South Korean cement manufacturers recently convened at an event hosted by the Korea Cement Association and the Korea Industry Alliance Forum to discuss how to achieve carbon neutrality. The industry currently faces financial challenges in upgrading equipment due to low cement prices. However, it has achieved a 20% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of cement since 2014, aided by the use of alternative fuels and investment in energy efficiency. The Korean government now requires that greenhouse gases be cut by 12% by 2023 from 2018 levels by 53% by 2050.
The industry currently uses post-consumer plastics as fuels instead of fossil fuels and incorporates byproducts from other industries, like sludge. However, some environmental groups have labelled cement made from industrial byproducts as ‘garbage cement’ claiming it contains hexavalent chromium levels more than four times the EU’s allowable limits. The use of plastics as alternative fuel has also sparked complaints from local waste collection and incineration companies, who argue that cement companies are taking away their business.
Professor Kim Jin-man from Kongju National University said "We also need to focus on developing high-performance clinker, advanced chemical admixtures for concrete, and accelerators that shorten concrete curing times."
India: The Jaipur Heritage Municipal Corporation has successfully converted around 6000kg of seized single-use plastic into a revenue-generating resource by selling it to cement plants. The plastic was collected over the past three to four months from local markets as part of an anti-plastic campaign, according to the Press Trust of India.
Commissioner Abhishek Surana said "Disposal of the seized single-use plastic was a major issue. We assessed that a supply chain exists in the system and installed refuse derived fuel machines at dumping yards to shred the plastic and sell it to cement manufacturing plants. It has also started generating revenue for the corporation."
Taiwan: Asia Cement Corporation tested its waste wind turbine blade processing capacities using 12t of blades earlier in November 2023. The cement producer had previously processed 9t of waste turbine blades for use in its plants up to the end of October 2023. Asia Cement Corporation says that the waste consists of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP), which is 60% silicon dioxide, calcium oxide and aluminium oxide and 40% polyester. The polyester can replace fossil fuels as alternative fuel (AF) for cement plants, while the other chemical compounds can serve as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs).
European Union eases up on sustainable packaging
23 November 2023Europe: 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.
Nuvoco Vistas commissions alternative fuel feeding systems at Nimbol and Risda cement plants
23 June 2023India: Nuvoco Vistas has commissioned feeding systems for alternative fuel (AF) in the pyro-process sections of its Nimbol and Risda cement plants. The systems will handle municipal solid waste, including unrecyclable plastic.
Managing director Jayakumar Krishnaswamy said "As part of our Protect Our Planet agenda, we view the AF projects as an important step towards fulfilling our commitment to sustainable cement manufacturing and reducing the environmental impacts. The successful completion of this project demonstrates our commitment to reducing carbon emissions, maximising waste consumption and demonstrating responsible resource management practices.” He added "This along with, other themes under Protect Our Planet agenda, is enabling Nuvoco to build robust partnerships with several stakeholders, and contribute to society at large.”
Republic Cement and Ecoloop seek new waste management partners
30 January 2023Philippines: CRH subsidiary Republic Cement and its waste management subsidiary Ecoloop are seeking to establish partnerships with 'sustainability-minded' organisations. BusinessWorld News has reported that Republic Cement and Ecoloop process waste for 12 private companies and 30 local government units. Philippines law will require that large organisations recover 80% of their plastic packaging waste by 2030. For 2023, the minimum is 2023.
Ecoloop managing director Angela Edralin-Valencia said “Our goal is to make our cement a greener and more environmentally friendly product. Our ambition is to replace 50% of our fuel consumption with alternative fuel (AF)." She added "A lot of investments have to be put in place from our end to get to that number, but we are still reviewing our options.”