Emphasising the long-term benefits of cement

摘要

All eyes are currently on the circular economy package launched by the European Commission ahead of the summer recess. The package draws together a wide variety of proposals, from waste recycling and energy recovery to resource-efficient buildings. Both the cement and concrete industry clearly apply the principles of the circular economy throughout their life cycle. The raw materials used to produce cement and concrete, primarily limestone and aggregates, are abundantly available. When manufacturing clinker, the cement industry is able to use waste as a fuel instead of coal and petcoke. At the same time, the mineral content of waste is recycled as a raw material. In the cement industry, this combination of energy recovery and material recycling is referred to as 'co-processing'.