Holcim Philippines reuses over 1M tons of wastes in cement manufacturing to drive decarbonization, circularity

Leading building solutions provider Holcim Philippines, Inc., reused over a million tons of qualified wastes into alternative fuels and raw materials for cement production in 2023 as to further accelerate decarbonization and circularity of operations.

The company’s plants co-processed 1.02 million tons of wastes as alternative fuels and raw materials, a 9% increase from 2022 to lessen consumption of virgin natural resources and high-carbon traditional fuels in operations. The initiative is aligned with the company’s sustainability commitment to produce essential building materials with less natural resources and lower carbon emissions by reusing waste from industries and communities.

Holcim Philippines President and CEO Horia Adrian: “Our sustained efforts to drive circularity in cement manufacturing is enabling us to more positively contribute to the country’s progress. Through our co-processing operations, we are significantly reducing our environmental footprint in producing important building materials for development structures while helping the country in managing wastes. We are determined to further advance circularity to help the Philippines build more with less and build new from old.”

The company’s waste management unit Geocycle led efforts to grow partners looking for a sustainable solution to meet their Zero Waste goals. Geocycle finished 2023 with 50 city and municipal government partners across the country from 35 the previous year as more communities sought ways to reduce wastes sent to landfills. Geocycle also welcomed more industrial partners in 2023 as manufacturers sought to find solutions for their plastic wastes in compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law.

In addition, Geocycle participated in several public engagements to highlight its commitment to advance a circular economy including the LOOPForward campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the United Nations Development Programme promoting the EPR. Finally, Holcim Philippines was a finalist in the Waste Management category of the 2023 Europa Awards, a recognition program by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines for excellent sustainability practices.

Holcim Philippines is among the pioneers of co-processing, a government-approved and globally-recognized waste management technology that repurposes qualified discarded materials into alternative low-carbon fuels and raw materials in making cement.