Poland: Lafarge Poland says that it has started one of its decarbonisation goals by removing the first of its ordinary portland cement (OPC) products from the market. From the start of September 2022 the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim has stopped producing its bagged CEM I 42.5 R Special cement product. In late 2021 it said it was planning to stop production CEM I OPC by the end of 2025. As it does so it will switch to products in the group’s ECOPlanet range instead.

Sweden: The Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the county administrative board of Gotland have both recommended rejecting Cementa’s application to extend its operating permit for its integrated Slite cement plant by four years. At present the current temporary permit will expire at the end of 2022, according to the Dagens Industri newspaper. The county administrative board has requested more information and Naturvårdsverket has found issues in the application with groundwater and nature protection area issues.

Cementa says that it submitted it application to the Land and Environment Court in April 2022 and that it was deemed complete by the court, which announced the application. In July 2022, opinions were received from around 10 authorities and associations, such as the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), Naturvårdsverket and the Norwegian Sea and Water Authority. Cementa added that it has now responded to this feedback.

“There are and must be high requirements for permit applications, so it is natural that there will be many views and questions in this type of examination,” said Karin Comstedt Webb, vice president of HeidelbergCement Sweden. “We have now clarified the application further and are now looking forward to the main hearing in October 2022. We are confident that our application is complete and we have been keen to show even more clearly that the business can be conducted in coexistence with nearby residents, and surrounding environmental and natural values. We see good conditions for the timetable announced by the court to be kept, which is crucial for the Swedish cement supply not to be jeopardised in the coming years.”

Further views on the application will be submitted in September 2022. The Land and Environment Court will then hold a hearing in October 2022 and a final decision is expected the end of 2022.

Romania: Holcim Romania has published four new environmental product declarations (EPD) for its products, including ECOPlanet cement and ECOPact concrete. It says it is the first construction materials manufacturer in the country to do so. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim first started makings its EPDs available in 2014 for cement, concrete and aggregate products. These were revalidated in 2019 and again in 2022.

Finland: Advancetec has changed its name to Schmersal Finland. The company was originally founded in 1993 in Helsinki as a sales company for automation technology. Germany-based Schmersal Group entered into a sales cooperation with Advancetec in the 1990s and eventually fully acquired the company in 2019.

Schmersal Finland sells products from the Schmersal portfolio and the safety services of Schmersal’s services division under the brand name tec.nicum, primarily in Finland and Estonia. Customers include well-known companies from the sectors paper manufacturing, food processing, robotics, marine industry and heavy industry.

Jukka Harmoinen, the managing director of Schmersal Finland, said “The new name will make it easier for us to increase the visibility of the Schmersal brand in Finland. In the future we would like to expand our product range and to develop new projects in cooperation with engineering and consulting companies.”