Fernando Gonzalez, our Global CEO, came to the UK for the opening of the new Suez waste facility which will supply the CEMEX Rugby Cement Plant with a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for the next 25 years.
The Senior Executive Vice President of SUEZ and CEO of CEMEX, along with the Mayor of Rugby, (pic right) officially opened the new Rugby Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) facility on Friday September 18th.
The SRF facility, owned and operated by international recycling and waste management company, SUEZ, will supply our Rugby Plant with a direct replacement for fossil fuel, manufactured using nothing but local rubbish.
The fuel, known as Climafuel®, produces a similar amount of energy to traditional coal and new facility will supply up to 250,000 tonnes of it to CEMEX every year to help meet the significant energy needs of the plant and improve its environmental performance.
The Rugby Solid Recovered Fuel Facility was built as part of a 25-year contract between SUEZ and CEMEX, which was signed in 2012, and it is understood to be the first of this duration in the UK outside of the PFI mechanism.
The SRF facility can process up to 400,000 tonnes of residual waste each year and around 70 per cent of the input material comes from businesses in the region, while the remaining 30 per cent is household waste, much of it originating from Northamptonshire County Council. The majority of this waste would otherwise be destined for landfill or Energy from Waste (EfW).
Jean-Marc Boursier, Senior Executive VP of SUEZ in charge of Recycling & Waste Recovery Division for Europe said:
“We are very pleased to officially open the Rugby Solid Recovered Fuel Facility and formally mark the start of this long term partnership between SUEZ and CEMEX. We are committed to operating a world class facility in Rugby and our focus is very much on manufacturing excellence and a high quality of production.”
Fernando A. Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer of CEMEX, said:
“This long term partnership with SUEZ in the UK reinforces one of the main drivers of our strategy: ensuring that sustainability is fully embedded in every aspect of our business. More than 90% of our active cement plants consume alternative fuels, with 9 of them having surpassed a 50% alternative fuel rate and 5 exceeding 65% last year. We remain committed to setting ambitious targets to keep CEMEX moving toward a sustainable future.”