Cement News tagged under: Environmental

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Lafarge plan may drive tourists away

22 March 2004, Published under Cement News

UK: Locals are vowing to fight a planned quarry extension, which they say will be disastrous for Westbury’s White Horse.  Lafarge Cement hopes to double the size of its stone quarry, just below the town’s famous attraction, but some residents fear this will drive tourists away from the beauty spot.  The cement firm owns mineral rights to the area and is expected to lodge a formal planning application with Wiltshire County Council in the next few months. Before this bosses have been in prelim...

Cut costs with rice husk fuels

19 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Asia’s cement makers are cutting their fossil fuel consumption and turning to the rice paddy across the street for a greener, cheaper and potentially more abundant fuel to heat their kilns. Cement plants in the world’s largest rice exporters, Thailand and India, have started to replace coal with rice husks that would have otherwise been incinerated and dumped in landfills. Offering savings of millions of dollars a year, other rice producers such as China - the world’s largest cement produce...

Portugal proposes 39Mt in CO2 licences

18 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Portugal has proposed emission of 39Mt of carbon dioxide from 2005 to 2007 under a European Union plan on output of greenhouse gasses, according to a preliminary proposal made available on Wednesday.  The national allocation plan comes ahead of an end-March EU deadline to submit proposals on quotas for carbon dioxide emissions, believed to be a key factor in climate change.  Of Portugal’s total, the power sector would get about 27Mt and the cement sector 7Mt. The ceramics industry would have ...

UK – Tearing down

13 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Two years ago, Lafarge closed its Eastgate cement plant, near Weardale, County Durham. Since then its industrial buildings have told a sorry tale of glory long-gone and provided the local community with a longing to see it demolished and the site’s former picturesque landscape restored. This appears now to be happening as Lafarge has applied to Wear Valley District Council for planning permission to use the works’ former social club as a project management base to demolish the old works....

High-chromium cement ban proposed

11 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Construction firms have been invited by the UK Health and Safety Commission (HSC) to comment on its plans to ban high-chromium cement.  High-chromium cement is a known cause of allergic dermatitis and the proposed ban would protect anyone who uses cement, concrete, mortar, grout and tile adhesive from the substance. Bill Macdonald, head of policy on skin disease at the HSC, said: "The ban would make illegal the supply and use of cement with more than two parts per million of chromium VI.  "At...

USA – St Lawrence Cement to provide more information

11 March 2004, Published under Cement News

St Lawrence Cement is to provide additional data to New York Department of State on 10 topic areas relating to the expansion of its Hudson works. The Department wants to see a broad range of information, including alternative plant designs, measures to reduce and visual effects, assessments of new emission abatement technology and balloon tests.  

UK – Cement as green belt saviour

09 March 2004, Published under Cement News

The UK needs 4.4m new homes by 2016, but the pressure on land use by a variety of activities is increasing steadily. The UK government has allocated brownfield areas and derelict industrial sites to enable the building of 60 per cent of these houses. However, many of these sites need land treatment or removal to render the sites safe for human habitation. Nevertheless, solutions are available, as evidenced by two techniques that have been heralded as the “saviour of green belt areas”. Re...

Hima Cement Plant to Shut Down

08 March 2004, Published under Cement News

Uganda: Hima cement factory in Kasese district will close for a month after locals complained of air pollution.  The factory’s Human Resource Manager, John Rwabona confirmed the closure by phone yesterday.  "Yes it’s true our factory is emitting dust and we are going to close down on Sunday and then repair it for 4 weeks; there will be no more dust," he said. The factory is about 16 kilometres on the Kasese-Fort Portal road. The district Director of Health services, Dr Peter Okui told Th...

UK – RLF receives health OK at Westbury

05 March 2004, Published under Cement News

The trust board of West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust has raised no objections to the recycled liquid fuel (RLF) trials at the Lafarge works in Westbury. Dr Pamela Akerman, acting director of public health explained: “We are reassured by the fact that trials at other cement works burning this and similar fuels have led to only modest changes in emissions.” Dr Mark Evans of the Wiltshire Health Protection Unit added: “It will be a six-month trial and it can be stopped at any time if there ...

Europe – JRC develops smart construction materials

05 March 2004, Published under Cement News

In a joint effort, the EU’s Joint Research Centre, research institutions and researchers from private enterprises are developing smart construction materials capable of absorbing and eliminating pollution. The EU views these materials as a key tool in meeting the EU target of reducing nitrogen oxide levels to under 21ppb by 2010. The PICADA (photocatalytic innovative coverings applications for depollution assessment) project, representing an investment of Euro3.4m, is working with materi...