India: Local government bodies in Chennai in Tamil Nadu have complained of the cost of sending plastics waste to cement plants. Five municipalities are spending of US$40,000/month on transport costs, according to the New Indian Express. Since 2017, 54 local government bodies have sent waste to cement plants for co-processing. Of these, 49 local bodies send it to UltraTech Cement’s plant at Ariyalur. However, the plant only pays transport costs for the waste sourced within a 100km radius. The state is looking into supplying plastics waste to nearer buyers.

Spain: Cemex has signed a Euro117m deal with the local government to convert the land used by the Gádor cement plant in Almeria for use by new projects. These will include projects in solar and wind power generation, waste fuel production from plastics and biomass and a new concrete batching plant, according to Teleprensa. The initiative is intended to create around 400 jobs.

The cement producer has also signed a similar agreement for its Lloseta in Baleares. The company announced in mid-October 2018 that it was planning to close the two plants due to reduced demand for cement and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations.

UK: Fraser Cutting has been appointed as the Hazardous Waste Manager at Andusia Recovered Fuels. He will be dealing with hazardous waste enquiries as well as assisting with the sourcing and disposal of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF).

Cutting holds 32 years in the hazardous waste sector. He started out at Cory Waste Management, before moving to Cleanaway as Manager at the Cambridge Waste Management Centre. He then moved to manage the waste arising at a large oil refinery and eventually spent the last 10 years managing the waste from a large regional hospital for the NHS.

US: LafargeHolcim’s Ravena cement plant in New York is considering burning tyres as an alternative fuel. Environmental Director Kevin G Bretz told Coeymans town officials that the cement producer has ‘developed relationships’ and held ‘preliminary discussions’ with potential tyre suppliers, according to the Times Union newspaper. The cement producer was hoping to use an approval by the state Department of Environmental Conservation granted in 2006 that gave permission for it to burn up to 4.8 million tyres annually at the plant. However, this Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) expired in mid-2018.