The Contribution of the Cement Industry to Waste Management

Members of the European Parliament and a delegation of the Walloon Region headed by M. Biefnot, President of the Walloon Parliament, visited on 9 December 97 the Ciments d’Obourg cement plant located in Obourg, near Mons in Belgium. This event was organised by CEMBUREAU (the European Cement Association) and FEBELCEM (the Federation of Belgian Cement Industry) under the aegis of the European Energy Foundation.

For CEMBUREAU, this was an opportunity to explain the co-combustion process at work in cement plants and to demonstrate the numerous advantages to the environment, to society and to the cement industry from burning waste as alternative fuels.

The attention of the participants was drawn to concerns over the Draft Directive on Incineration of waste, which as it stands, would virtually make it impossible to use alternative fuels in the European cement industry. The Draft Directive applies to cement plants limits on emissions which do not take into account the specific nature of the cement manufacturing process and the emissions which are related to that process and are, therefore, independent of the type of fuels used, whether primary fossil fuels or waste. (See the lastest stage in this matter : Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste)

FEBELCEM took the Obourg plant as a good example of integration of the Belgian cement industry into the regional waste policy of Wallonia (Walloon Waste Plan). A covenant between the Walloon Region and FEBELCEM, governing the use of waste products in the Belgian cement industry, allows the recovery of a maximum of waste originating in Wallonia as alternative fuels or alternative raw materials in cement kilns under environmentally responsible conditions. To that aim, several scientific and economic, independent, studies(*); were made for the purpose of defining the operating methodology and concentration limits for waste valorisation in cement plants. A scientific study carried out at the request of the Walloon Region confirmed that the burning of selected, well-defined wastes in a cement kiln is safe for the environment, for the health of workers and neighbours, as well as for the final quality of the product.

MEPs present expressed their conviction that the cement industry must remain an active partner to solve waste management problems and their willingness to pursue the dialogue, for example within the framework of an informal working session to be held in the near future.

(*) Argumentaire juridique relatif àla valorisation de déchets en cimenterie, FEBELCEM, juin 1996 Perspective for the use of combustible waste in the Belgian and French cement industries, B.M.R. Vanderborght, G.P.J. Dijkema, Technische Bestuurkunde Delft, 1996 TNO Report, The materials and Energy Potential Method for the Quantitative Distinction Between Waste Valorisation and Elimination in the Cement Industry, Dr J.A. Zeevalkink, TNO Institute of Environmental Sciences, Energy Reasearch and Process Innovation, Apeldoorn, 1996.