Sustainability

Sustainable development of our business is essential for our group of companies. As well as in cement as in concrete we are using natural resources since the products have been developed. We understand that natural resources are not endless and need to be used wisely. Therefore Buzzi Unicem and Dyckerhoff together have defined sustainability to be a strategic target of all companies in the group.

For the companies in Ukraine this does not only mean that we annually report on our activities concerning our sustainable development although this reporting is an important event and helps us to deal actively with the issue. It also means that we day by day look at our business and check where to improve and to optimize. To fulfil our targets we for example strive to use as much blastfurnace slag which is a waste from steel production in our cements. By doing so we save CO2 as we do not need to burn as much clinker to make the same amount of cement. Furthermore we follow the obligation to recultivate the quarries used for limestone or chalk extraction with great diligence. As well our quarry of Volyn-Cement as well as the one of Yugcement is in its recultivated part a unique piece of nature with lakes and forest which you could not find in the respective areas at all.

As Ukraine is a country in which so called “Joint Implementation Projects” under the “Kyote Protocol” can be carried out we started to search for possibilities to do so for our plants. Currently we have two projects which we are developing together with a consultant and the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine: One of them includes the usage of blastfurnace slag not only in cement grinding but also as a replacement of raw materials in the clinker burning process. This saves additional CO2 as slag is a decarbonated and - in comparison to our slurry - relatively dry material. The second project includes the change from the so called wet process of clinker burning at Volyn-Cement to dry process. This will save approximately 40% of fuel usage in the kiln and consequently save significant amounts of CO2.