India: The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has certified the sustainability claims of Dalmia Cement’s portfolio of blended cements. The portfolio consists of composite cement, Portland pozzolan cement and Portland slag cement. The council employed a full-cycle assessment of the cements’ impacts.

Head of sales, marketing and logistics Sanjay Wali said “We see GreenPro’s accreditation as a milestone in our journey to becoming carbon-negative by 2040. This also reaffirms our blended cement products’ green supremacy, which is accelerating the global transition from a grey to green reality.”

US: Harsco Environmental has launched its new ecoproducts business, the renamed version of its former applied products business. The company said that the name change reflects the division’s capabilities as an end-to-end solutions provider. It added that it will combine value, performance and sustainability with a grounding in innovation. The cement sector is one of seven industries which the company’s applied products division has previously supplied with slag.

Vice president and chief operating officer Russ Mitchell said “Where most see waste, we see unimagined value. Since our inception, Harsco Environmental has been renowned for its vast service offerings and has remained at the front lines for our customers.” He added “As we evolve into an environmental solutions provider, we are committed to increasing our sustainable offerings. Our rebranding to ecoproducts better represents what this product line offers to all stakeholders, the industry and our customers.”

The company has also redesigned its website to ‘enhance the user experience.’

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has launched ECOPlanet, a slag cement product. It will promote the cement as a general purpose blend for structural applications. It will be made available in 40kg bags in paper and plastic bags. The Philippines will be among the first markets where ECOPlanet is available. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim also intends to obtain an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the product in the next few months, as well as launching a plastic bag recycling scheme related to the product.

India: Tata Steel has begun the export of Linz-Donawitz (LD) slag from its steel production processes to Bangladesh. The United News of India has reported that a Bangladeshi cement producer has purchased the material for use in its cement production. China-based cement shipping company Cemcoa will deliver the slag.

Chief operating officer Subodh Pandey said that Tata Steel continually pursues operational and market-facing innovations by creating value out of its by-products, as part of its quest to a sustainable future. It has achieved 100% granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), fly ash and LD slag recycling.