Displaying items by tag: recycling

India: Antony Waste Handling Cell Limited (AWHCL) has won a US$124m contract for construction and demolition waste management services in Mumbai. Press Trust of India News has reported that the contract covers nine municipal subdivisions of the city and will last until 2044. AWHCL said that the contract will enable it to develop the circularity of cement and concrete within the local economy. It expects to commission 600t/day-worth of waste processing capacity by March 2023. The waste management company expects a recovery rate of 25% recyclable materials.

AWHCL chairman and managing director Jose Jacob said "This sub-segment of solid waste management provides tremendous growth opportunities given the number of infrastructure development projects underway, and the government's push to accelerate the economic growth with infrastructure being one of the important growth pillars."

UK: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials has signed a deal for the acquisition of Mick George Group, the leading concrete recycling company in the East Midlands and East of England. Mick George Group’s 40 sites span bulk excavation, earthmoving and demolition services and demolition waste removal and management, as well as ready-mix concrete and aggregates distribution.

Heidelberg Materials Western and Southern Europe director Jon Morrish said “With the acquisition of Mick George, we are clearly moving towards establishing a truly circular materials and services offer in our UK business. I warmly welcome all 1000 Mick George employees to Heidelberg Materials and look forward to further developing the business together.”

Heidelberg Materials aims to offer circular alternatives for half of its products by 2050.

Colombia: Cemex has announced the launch of the Tunjuelo Circularity Centre at its former Tunjuelo quarry near Bogotá. Having rebuilt parts of the 50m-deep quarry with demolition waste, Cemex will now work on its ecological restoration, while continuing to receive excavation waste for reconstruction of the ground. It will meanwhile divert demolition waste deliveries for recycling in aggregate production. In Bogotá, Cemex has launched an initiative for urban construction partnerships in collaboration with local authorities. It will also collect municipal solid waste (MSW) there for use in its cement production and collect its used plastic cement bags for recycling in building materials production.

Cemex’s Colombia and Peru president Alejandro Ramírez said "This is a pioneering model for Cemex in the construction materials industry globally, which we aim to position as a benchmark for circularity within the sustainable development of large cities in Colombia and the world. A piece of land that supplied materials for Bogotá's development for decades has received construction and demolition waste for its redevelopment and was transformed into a green area to the south of the city, an epicenter of the circular economy and an opportunity for urban development for the capital city of Colombia."

UK: Holcim has acquired recycled concrete and aggregates producer Wiltshire Heavy Building Materials. Wiltshire Heavy Building Materials' material recovery system enables it to process 150,000t/yr of construction and demolition waste for recycling. It operates multiple plants across Wiltshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and generated Euro20.6m in sales in 2021.

Switzerland-based Holcim said that the acquisition will expand its UK subsidiary Aggregate Industries' position in the area between London and the West of England, and help the group to achieve its goal of 10Mt/yr-worth of construction and demolition waste recycled globally by 2025.

Germany: Dyckerhoff’s Dillingen ready-mixed concrete plant is the company’s first unit to be awarded the R module of the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The unit has been using recycled aggregates in the standardised proportions and types since August 2021 and now customers and clients can have the certified sustainable concrete counted as part of building certifications. The recycled aggregate used in the Dillingen plant comes from a recycling company in the immediate vicinity, so there are no transport costs, which, in addition to the aspect of resource conservation, also contributes to the avoidance of transport-related CO₂ emissions.

Canada: Holcim has announced its acquisition of Mathers Group’s quarry and asphalt assets in Quebec. The group says that the acquisition will accelerate its development of local circular construction practices by expanding its recycled concrete offering.

Indonesia: Finland-based Betolar has introduced its Geoprime reduced-CO₂ concrete technology into the Indonesian market. Geoprime facilitates the production of reduced-CO₂ concrete using industrial side streams.

Betolar head of Asia Juha Pinomaa said "The concrete industry is facing a pivotal moment in the global fight against climate change, and Indonesia is taking urgent action in changing the way cities are built. Betolar's Geoprime solution can unlock the construction industry's challenge to reduce their CO₂ emissions. It's not surprising that we are seeing rapid growth, especially in South East Asia, where urbanisation is among the fastest in the world."

Spain: Cemex España has supplied concrete from its Vertua Plus range for the construction of an 81-home housing development in Madrid. The estate, called Torrejón Park, will be Spain’s first to be built entirely from Vertua reduced-CO₂ cement. Cemex España says that the products used offer 50 – 70% lower CO2¬ emissions than ordinary concrete. Developer Neinor Homes will additionally recover over 80% of construction waste for recycling.

Germany: The Ministry for Economy and Climate Protection has presented HeidelbergCement with its German Climate and Environment Innovation Prize (IKU) for its ReConcrete-360° concrete recycling process. The process retrieves hardened cement paste from waste demolition concrete for use in place of limestone in clinker and cement production. The recycled material can also bind CO₂ to act as a carbon sink.

Global research and development Wolfgang Dienemann said “With ReConcrete-360°, we have succeeded in developing a limestone substitute from demolished concrete that also allows us to use the carbon-containing exhaust gases from cement production. A small revolution with a big impact: In Germany alone, the CO₂ savings potential of this process is 10Mt/yr. The IKU award underlines that we can be proud of our pioneering innovation.”

France: Eqiom’s demolition waste recycling plant Gennevilliers in Paris has processed 10,000t of material since it opened in January 2022. The site has a target of 50,000t/yr in its first year of operation. Sand, gravel and larger aggregate fractions are screened from the concrete in a ratio of 40%, 20% and 40% respectively, according to Le Moniteur. The gravel is used at a nearby concrete plant whilst the sand and aggregate is used mostly in road construction.