Displaying items by tag: lobbying

Europe: 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.

India: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has lobbied the government in its Pre-Budget Memorandum 2020-21 over customs duties. The body is suggesting a reduction on the customs duty on tyre chips for use as alternative fuel (AF) to 5% from 10%. There is currently no import tax on cement and duties of 5% and below on various clinker constituents.

Poland: Figures from the Polish Cement Producers’ Association (SPC) have shown a 30% reduction in specific CO2 emissions over the 30-year period from 31 December 2019 to the projected figure for 31 December 2019 due to the co-processing of alternative fuels (AFs) by cement producers in the country. It estimated a total cost of investments of Euro2.34bn but said that further developments would be slowed in the absence of governmental action to raise electricity and emissions costs for more pollutant competitors.

Lafarge Poland leads the pack in terms of AF substitution, meeting 75% of its fuel needs (0.4Mt/yr) with prepared unrecyclable refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The company says it will increase this figure to 0.5Mt/yr in 2022. Speaking of the planned 25% increase, Lafarge Poland president Xavuer Guesnu said “Concrete and cement products need not be a problem, but rather a solution to contemporary challenges both urban and climatic.” The LafargeHolcim subsidiary operates a 0.2Mt/yr RDF processing plant at its 2.0Mt/yr integrated Kujawy w Blelawach cement plant.

Italy: Federbeton, the Italian cement and concrete producers’ association, has complained of ‘bureaucratic and regulatory’ obstacles causing Italy to lag behind other European countries in its use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in cement production. Statistics from the Italian Technical and Economic Cement Association (AITEC) show a net AFD substitution of 0.39Mt in 2018, corresponding to 20% of cement fuels burned in Italy. This represents a year-on-year increase of 2.4% from 0.38Mt (17%) in 2017, but lags behind the European annual average of 46%. Peak substitution was in neighbouring Austria, where 79% of cement fuel was refuse-derived. “Our investments in environmental technologies are bearing fruit,” said Antonio Buzzi, coordinator of Federbeton’s Environment and Circular Economy Committee. “We are ready to use larger quantities of alternative raw materials, but continue to pay for these obstacles.”

ANSA has reported that in 2018, Italian cement producers achieved a year-on-year decrease in net CO₂ emissions of 8.9%. Dust levels also decreased by 15.4% compared to 2017.

India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) is considering using agricultural biomass as an alternative fuel. It says it is willing to offer support to different state governments to help find a way of delivering biomass directly from fields to cement producers, according to the Times of India newspaper. The CMA says it is offering a solution to the dust pollution caused by crop burning. However, the industry needs to resolves problems with transportation and seasonality. The CMA hopes to contact local governments and organisations to find a solution to these issues in 2019.