New Zealand: Fletcher Building will begin using hard-to-recycle plastics and wood as alternative fuels in its cement production process during 2025, as part of its ‘front-end firing project’, according to The Post newspaper. The company aims to be 100% coal-free by 2030. It said wood pellets and shredded tyres currently substitute for 50% of coal. The new additions will raise this to 70–80%. Fletcher Building began burning wood pellets in 2003, construction waste in 2010 and tyres in 2023. Fletcher Building said it plays a “significant role in waste diversion for New Zealand.”
Fletcher Building intends to start burning ‘hard-to-recycle’ plastics as an alternative fuel for cement production, a move it says aids waste diversion for the country.In 2003, it started using wood pellets to replace some of the coal it burned. In 2010, it started burning construction waste. In 2023, it started burning shredded end-of-life tyres.
Fletcher Building says that it aims to be 100% coal-free by 2030.
