India: The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has arranged a deal with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palik (BBMP), an administrative city council body, to remove excess refuse derived fuel (RDF) in Bangalore. The agreement has arranged to transport 1.3Mt of RDF that has accumulated at six recycling plants in the city for a cost of just under US$0.5m, according to the Hindu newspaper.

High transport costs to move the PDF to cement plants in the north of Karnataka despite giving the RDF to the plants for free have been blamed for the excess of RDF in Bangalore in the south of the state. As an interim measure BBMP officials have asked cement plants to use Corporate Social Responsibility funds to cover the costs of transporting the RDF while it arranges policy on the matter. The government body may seek to ask the state government to subsidise transport costs for the RDF.

Slovenia: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has awarded Salonit Anhovo (Salonit) a Euro15m loan to be used for energy and resource efficiency improvements and to restructure the company’s balance sheet. The building materials producer has a substitution rate of 64% for alternative fuels at its Anhovo cement plant. The EBRD loan will be invested to increase this ratio further to improve the company’s profitability and reduce CO₂ emissions. A precondition for increasing the ratio of alternative fuels is the installation of state-of-the-art equipment. The investment will also have a beneficial effect on operational costs, which are expected to decline thanks to the adjusted fuel ratios.

Austria: A Tec has commissioned a Rocket Mill RM 2.50 for ASA at its waste treatment plant in Wiener Neustadt. The mill has a capacity of 7 – 40t/hr and is equipped with two grinding chambers, which can be independently loaded. Each one has a main drive with 315kW. Due to the grinding technology, it also has an additional drying effect of approximately 10%. The mill is designed to produce refuse-derived fuels (RDF) with an output size of 5 - 80mm from pre-sorted and shredded household and commercial waste. It was principally built at A Tec’s plant in Eberstein.

Canada: A scheme to use coffee packs at Lafarge Canada’s Kamloops cement plant has ended following the mothballing of the site. Lafarge Canada and Van Houtte Coffee Services had an arrangement to use leftover Keurig coffee packs collected in the Kamloops area as an alternative fuel for the plant, according to the Province newspaper. However, Lafarge Canada announced that it was mothballing the plant in October 2016 due to poor market conditions. Up to 26 workers may lose their jobs. Van Houtte is looking for a new site to place the programme.