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Sustainability

By taking materials at the end of their useful life and transforming them into higher value, long lived construction products, the UK cement industry has a key role in realising the Government’s ambition to double resource productivity by 2050.

Resource Use

	Units	1998	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Total waste and by-products used as fuel and raw materials	tonnes	446,511	1,454,354	1,549,393	1,414,195	1,329,517	1,224,967	1,292,639
Proportion of raw material comprising waste	%	4.0	5.9	6.9	5.8	5.0	5.1	5.1
Proportion of fuel comprising waste material	%	5.7	39.2	43.8	43.2	45.5	46.8	45.4
Biomass fraction of fuel input (100% and part biomass fuels)	%	Not available	16.7	18.3	17.2	17.7	18.2	18.5
Process waste recovered onsite	tonnes	Not available	4,086	2,270	1,401	1,126	864	1,152
Process waste recovered off site	tonnes	0	49,238	43,273	41,186	43,624	37,192	31,095
Process waste sent to landfill	tonnes	289,207	0	0	0	0	0	0

Climate Change and Energy

	Units	1998	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
CO₂ emissions (direct emissions from cement plants)	kgCO₂/tPCe	924	696	693	697	702	701	671
Indirect CO₂ emissions from electricity use	kgCO₂/tPCe	Not available	48	36	30	31	28	24

Natural Environment

	Units	1998	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Emissions of NOx	kg NOx/tPCe	3.34	1.12	1.03	1.07	1.16	1.08	0.99
Emissions of PM	kg PM/tPCe	-	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.04
Emissions of SO₂	kg SO₂/tPCe	2.56	0.45	0.38	0.42	0.44	0.42	0.29
Mains Water Use	m3/tPCe	Not available	0.03	0.07	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.03