Sustainability

Whether as individuals or as companies, we all need to live more sustainably - to enjoy today but with greater care for how we impact on the world our children and grandchildren will inherit.

Mineral-based industries like cement face particular challenges because, in satisfying the needs that we as individuals generate, they use reserves of raw materials. Cement-making also necessitates the burning of fossil fuels which, with the raw materials themselves, then create emissions to the atmosphere.

Reducing waste is another obvious test for all of us. The cement industry is playing an important role in minimising some of the UK's waste disposal problems by processing selected wastes and by-products from other industries into alternative raw materials or fuels for use in the cement killn.

At the same time, cement makes a massive contribution to sustaining the quality of life. Without the concrete and mortar we make from it, we would have no homes, schools or hospitals. There would be no roads for our vehicles, no runways for our aircraft and no reservoirs to store our water. It also sustains people by creating many thousands of jobs.