CEMBUREAU welcomes the New Circular Economy Action Plan and the ambitious vision of the European Green Deal.

The cement sector in Europe substitutes today an average 46% of its fossil fuel needs for cement manufacturing with alternative sources (e.g. non-recyclable waste or biomass) and has ambitions to reduce the use of fossil fuel further.

CEMBUREAU supports the review of EU waste policy to ensure greater circularity throughout EU economy:

• Landfilling should be either banned across the EU or highly taxed at Member States;
• An EU model for separate waste collection could simplify waste management, improve efficiency of resource flows and ensure better access to secondary materials for business;
• Export of waste outside the EU should stop. A review of the Waste Shipment Regulation should simplify waste movements within the EU and avoid unnecessary bureaucratic delays;
• When waste is used in the cement kiln to produce clinker (the intermediate product of cement) its organic component provides heat inside the kiln and the non-combustible elements become part of the clinker, thanks to what is called “co-processing”. The potential of co-processing should be enhanced further through legislative & regulatory measures that recognise this form of material recycling and its contribution towards EU recycling targets.