Vietnam: The government has encouraged cement producers to increase their uptake of waste products, including slag, in cement production. The Viet Nam News newspaper has reported that the government has asked the Ministry of Construction and related agencies to complete the formulation of technical standards, regulations and instructions in relation to the use of slag as well as researching new applications for it. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also started inspecting storage sites to ensure that it doesn’t exceed two years worth of production. The government initiative has been made in response to rising stockpiles of slag, ash and gypsum.

Germany: Euroslag and the FEhS-InstitütfürBaustoff-Forschung have spoken of the need for an amendment to European public procurement law to make the uptake of secondary raw materials, including slag, mandatory for public construction tenders. The organisations said that the European Parliament’s latest report on its Circular Economy Action Plan of March 2020 provides for a more strongly ‘ecologically-orientated’ public procurement law.

Euroslag chair and FEhS-InstitütfürBaustoff-Forschung managing director Thomas Reiche said, "The own-initiative report provides the best foundation for binding, forward-looking legislation to consistently promote the circular economy. This also includes fair competition and the conditional prioritisation of secondary raw materials, as also demanded by the rapporteur of the European Parliament Jan Huitema. Only concrete procurement directives with third-party protection character ensure the Europe-wide use of all high-quality secondary building materials, which have been making an important contribution to ecologically and economically sound economic activity for decades!"

US: Harsco Corporation recorded net sales of US$1.85bn in 2020, up by 23% year-on-year from Euro1.50bn in 2019. The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 10% to US$238m from US$265m. Harsco Environmental’s fourth quarter net sales rose by 2% to US$246m from US$243m. Its adjusted EBITDA rose by under 1% to US$52.0m from US$51.0m. The company attributed the division’s growth to higher demand for applied products and lower general and administrative spending, partially offset by a less favourable services mix and contract changes.

Chairman and chief executive officer Nick Grasberger said, “Against a challenging market backdrop in 2020, Harsco made significant progress on its strategic, operational and financial objectives. While the disruption caused by the global pandemic could not have been predicted, our teams executed well, with a consistent focus on our key priorities – operating safely, serving customers, preserving financial flexibility and executing our Environmental Solutions business from Stericycle (ESOL) integration and operational recovery plan in Rail.”

US: The US Department of Energy has awarded a grant of US$1.5m to a combined industry and academic team led by Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The team will research uses of slag and other waste products from steel production. The study aims to investigate the overall material efficiency of steel production in order to reduce waste. It will explore several avenues, including the use of recovered silica for heavy metals capture at industrial plants and the synthesis of calcium carbonate from slag for use in steel production. Additionally, the team hopes to produce useable iron oxide from the by-products.

Assistant professor Greeshma Gadikota said, “This exciting project directly addresses our societal mission of meeting our resource needs in an environmentally sustainable manner. Iron and steel use is ubiquitous in our infrastructure.” She added that the study is “A unique opportunity to engage and train our students in developing innovative technologies that are central to our ability to live.” The study’s title is ‘Integrated reuse and co-utilisation of slag, sludge and dust with inherent heavy metal capture and nanoscale calcium carbonate production as an enhanced fluxing agent in steel plants.’