Cementos Molins celebrates the first year of operation of its alternative raw materials plant, located within its facilities in Barcelona, Spain, with a significant milestone. The company has announced that the plant has successfully valorized more than 75,000 tons of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste, as well as other non-hazardous industrial waste, in its first anniversary.
Cementos Molins' alternative raw materials plant, which covers an area of over 3,250 square meters, was inaugurated in September 2022 following an investment of nearly 2 million euros. With the operation of the plant, Cementos Molins can manage waste comprehensively, from suitable storage services to collection and transportation to the valorization plant, ensuring minimal environmental impact throughout the waste management cycle.
According to Carlos Martínez, Director of Corporate Development and Sustainability at Cementos Molins, "Our commitment to the environment is intrinsically linked to our business model, which is based on the development of sustainable and innovative materials. That's why, at our alternative raw materials plant, we provide a second life to industrial and construction waste that would otherwise end up in landfills, generating high-quality sustainable products from them. The plant has enabled all our cements to incorporate alternative raw materials in their production process. Furthermore, we are working to reduce the carbon footprint of all our concretes, ensuring that, in the short term, all of them include recycled aggregates in their manufacture."
The alternative raw materials facility, with a potential capacity of over 200,000 tons, receives waste in coarse, granular, powder, and sludge formats. Two types of treatment are carried out at the plant: crushing and screening, in which waste from concrete plants is processed to manufacture recycled aggregates with a CE mark. The second treatment involves the dosing and homogenization of industrial and construction waste to produce new alternative materials to produce Cementos Molins' cements.
The reuse of alternative raw materials is a key focus for Cementos Molins in promoting circularity and decarbonization in the industry. This plant prevents the direct emission of more than 2,000 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to the emissions produced by more than 750 cars annually. Additionally, the plant's proximity to the cement factory significantly reduces transportation costs for raw materials. "It allows us to valorize our own resources while saving CO2 emissions in the processes of raw material transport and product manufacturing. This procedure enables us to avoid the extraction of 75,000 tons of material from quarries, extending the lifespan of our quarries and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources," Martínez explains.
Commitment to the circular economy
Cementos Molins' commitment to the circular economy aligns with the goals outlined in its Sustainability Roadmap 2030, a roadmap that will lead the company to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% by 2030. This commitment accelerates the emission reduction plans that the company has been implementing since 1990 and focuses on the strategic goal of supplying carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.
Thanks to its commitment to alternative raw materials and investments in development and technology at its MPA plant, Cementos Molins became the first company in Spain to obtain a new certification for coarse recycled aggregates in late 2022, just six months after the facility's inauguration. This certification meets all the requirements of the Structural Code, which, since November 2021, has replaced the EHE-08 standard. It represents a high-quality recycled aggregate certified for use in the production of structural and non-structural concretes.
