Circular Economy
A major challenge for the modern world is the deficit of natural resources and the constantly increasing amount of waste. Despite the growth of ecological awareness, we still struggle with the global problem of environmental degradation. We all realize that once extracted and used in production, resources are not renewable, and the waste produced will not disappear on its own.
The answer to these contemporary ecological threats is the circular economy model, which is a modern concept of conducting the production process with rational use of natural resources. The main goal is to obtain an increasing amount of waste that can be reused (not necessarily in the same form). Today, waste should be seen by us as a potential source of resources.
The ODRA Cement Plant supports the goals contained in the circular economy strategy.
An integral part of our production process is the safe management of materials from other sectors of the economy that have the status of waste or by-product.
For many years, we have been reducing the consumption of conventional (non-renewable) natural resources by using in the production process:
- fly ashes, waste from power plants or combined heat and power plants,
- granulated blast furnace slag, waste from the metallurgical industry,
- FGD gypsum, waste from the flue gas desulfurization process,
- copper slag, waste from copper smelters,
- steel slag, a by-product of the converter process,
- carbide lime, waste from acetylene production,
- alternative fuels, municipal and industrial waste,
In the production process of Portland cements, up to 40% consist of materials obtained from waste.