Sustainability

Environmental

Secondary Materials

PPC is committed to investigating the use of alternative materials as input material. The company uses boiler ash, synthetic gypsum, magnetite and mine sand as input materials to minimise the impact on our natural resources.

PPC has not been able to increase the use of renewable materials significantly due to continuing slow progress with developing legislation. Although work was completed on the national policy on cement kiln co-processing in 2008, the policy was only released by the government in June 2009. PPC has received a positive record of decision (RoD) for the Hercules and Dwaalboom operations, but had to appeal the latter due to the unduly restrictive conditions of the authorisation.

PPC did implement a used-oil collection scheme in the Northern Cape, working with the Ntsika Enterprise Development Fund (page 41). This project will collect used oil in the province for coprocessing in PPC lime kilns. With this project, two objectives were fulfilled - the development and empowerment of local people and finding a local solution for a hazardous waste problem in the Northern Cape.

The use of magnetite, a waste material from the vanadium process, was implemented at Jupiter and Dwaalboom in the past year. Magnetite is a substitute for iron, which in turn comes from the non-renewable resource of iron ore.

PPC is continuously evaluating materials for their potential as renewable raw materials and fuels in our processes. With the requisite environmental approvals, this will become a focal point for the company in future.