Toward net zero emissions in Austria

Did you know that Holcim is a world leader in waste solutions? We invest heavily in equipping our plants to accelerate the use of waste-derived fuels globally from today’s 20 to 37 by 2030. Heating our kilns with pretreated waste and other alternative fuels is key in reducing our carbon footprint.

We recover energy and recycle minerals from waste treatment during the manufacture of cement in a process called “co-processing”. Our Retznei plant in Austria is our unmatched co-processing champion as it can run with virtually no traditional fuels used to heat the kiln. This year, the plant achieved an average Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR)* rate of 90 .

The plant is equipped to treat waste streams of different quality which are then fed into the system, ensuring consistent temperatures to comply with quality requirements. The added benefit of co-processing is that the entire waste input is recycled or recovered without producing any additional residue.

Retznei is our star pupil, but to achieve our carbon footprint reduction we need to go further. Luckily, co-processing is a scalable solution that can be rolled out across the globe through Geocycle, our co-processing network that is already present in 50 countries worldwide.

*The TSR refers to the percentage of energy from waste-derived fuels instead of traditional fuels like coal or petcoke.

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Toward net zero emissions in Austria

Building progress for people and the planet