US: Veolia North America (VNA) has signed a contract for the supply of used blades from onshore wind turbines from GE Renewables. The waste management company will process the blades to produce shredded composite materials for use in cement production, both as replacement for war materials such as sand and clay and as an alternative fuel. As a part of the agreement, blades that have been removed from turbines will be shredded at VNA’s processing facility in Missouri and then used in cement plants across the US. On average, nearly 90% of the blade material, by weight, will be reused as a repurposed engineered material for cement production.

Environmental solutions and services chief operating officer (COO) Bob Cappadona said, "By adding wind turbine blades — which are primarily made of fibreglass — to replace raw materials for cement manufacturing, we are reducing the amount of coal, sand and minerals that are needed to produce the cement.” GE Renewables and sustainability consultant Quantis said that the use of turbine blades in cement production would reduce net CO₂ emissions by up to 27% and water consumption by up to 13%.

Philippines: Aboitiz Equity Ventures and CRH subsidiary Republic Cement says that it is seeking partners to supply it with plastic waste, which it can co-process as refuse-derived fuel (RDF). The Business World newspaper has reported that the company has set a target of 10m plastic bags/day by 2021.

President and chief executive officer Nabil Francis said, “We would like to commit to a very ambitious target next year, and this target is to co-process not less than 10m equivalent of plastic bags/day, starting from the very beginning of next year.” Angela Edralin-Valencia, the resource recovery director of Republic Cement’s Ecoloop division, said, "It's going to be double what we are currently doing, and it's just the beginning.”

US: Geocycle has planted its first crop of perennial native grasses at its Dorchester, South Carolina site. The supplier says that it is trialling the crop as an alternative fuel and future biofuel for the US Southeast region. It sowed giant reed, miscane, miscanthus and switchgrass, which it praised for their ‘low establishment and upkeep costs’ and demonstrated yields of between 12t/acre and 20t/acre.

The company said, “The team is committed to actively participating in the communities’ and state’s bioenergy projects, which aim at developing the circular economy and help achieve net zero future.”

Turkey: Denmark-based FLSmidth has released details about a new clinker production line it is currently supplying to Bursa Çimento. Work at the site is underway at present covering the line from crushing to clinker cooling. The new line is scheduled to start at the end of 2022. FLSmidth says the equipment it is supplying includes a Hotdisc Combustion Device, which will help increase the substitution rate to 86%, the highest in Turkey. The order also includes an OK Raw Mill, a Rotax-2 kiln, Pfister feeders and new air pollution process filters.

"The modernisation of our Bursa site is a strategic investment, providing us with a more competitive cost base,” said Osman Nemli, General Manager at Bursa Çimento. “But just as important is the entire upgrade which focuses on reducing emissions and power consumption. In this way, we are proactively mitigating future possible environmental regulation."