Displaying items by tag: regulations

US: The board of supervisors of the Pennsylvania township of Salem has approved Daniels Concrete’s construction of its Salem ready-mix concrete batching plant. This is despite a 5m encroachment onto allotted road setback space under transport rules. Under normal permitting processes, proprietors would need to prove special ‘hardship’ in order to be exempted from the restriction. Local press has reported that planning commissioners referred the matter to the board of supervisors given that the plant has operated ‘for years’ without permits.

India: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has released new guidelines for ready-mix concrete plants situated in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Free Press Journal newspaper has reported that the new guidelines require new static plants within municipal limits to obtain special MPCB approval, while new and existing plants outside of municipal limits must establish a 500m buffer zone. New ready-mix concrete plants at building sites must have a minimum project area of 2000m² and existing ones must fully enclose their operations. Plants at building sites must dismantle their operations within a month after completing 70% of works at the site. Operators of ready-mix concrete plants in MMR must additionally provide new bank guarantees in favour of the MPCB.

The move purportedly aims to reduce air pollution in Mumbai. 11 of 26 monitoring stations in the city recorded poor air quality on 2 December 2024. Poor air quality indicates a high concentration of PM2.5 or PM10 inhalable particulate matter, which are present in smog.

Ireland: New regulations effective from 1 September 2024 require all state-funded building projects in Ireland - including roads, schools, and hospitals - to use low-carbon concrete. The directive prohibits the use of CEM I cement, mandating a minimum of 30% replacement of clinker with low-carbon alternatives for public projects.

US: A Licking County court has upheld the county council’s decision to deny a permit for Shelly Co. to build a ready-mix concrete batching plant near Alexandria. The company’s proposal also included the construction of an asphalt mixing plant at the site in Ohio. Local press has reported that Shelly Co. failed in its attempt to argue that floodplain regulations did not apply to the site due to its historical use as an aggregates quarry.

Europe: The European Commission (EC), in coordination with the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the Turkish Competition Authority, launched unannounced antitrust inspections of additives and admixtures producers in ‘several’ countries. The EC said that the inspections form a preliminary step in an investigation of suspected anticompetitive practices.

Australia: Alternative cement and concrete producers have welcomed a new Australian civil engineering standard that allows builders to use reduced-CO₂ geopolymer concrete in infrastructure projects. Wagners, which produces Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), said that the revision has removed one if its key barriers to wider market acceptance. EFC replaces 100% of cement with supplementary cementitious materials, including ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and pulverised fly ash, by virtue of its binder technology. Wagners previously supplied EFC for the London Power Tunnels project in the UK, based on local technical approval-based building codes. The producer now expects a new standard like the Australian one to follow in the EU.

North America: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has partnered with consultancy WAP Sustainability to launch an on-demand environmental product declaration (EPD) service for concrete products. The partners say that their EPDs will allow concrete producers to show the impacts of their products across metrics including CO₂ emissions. This is in line with current market trends, including increasing Buy Clean initiatives in federal and state procurement under the Inflation Reduction Act.

GCCA's concrete and sustainable construction director Andrew Minson said “The cement and concrete sector is playing a key part in sustainable construction, but this requires transparent, objective and accessible data on the environmental impact of our products. Our collaboration with WAP will allow concrete producers to quickly and cost effectively produce EPDs that can demonstrate the contribution of their products to a sustainable world of tomorrow.”

WAP Sustainability’s EPD director James Salazar said “WAP’s partnership with the GCCA leverages the GCCA’s industry-leading computation engine with WAP’s easy-to-use software and full-service support. As requirements for EPDs grow, we’re excited to offer credible and low-cost solutions through close partnerships with industry leaders like the GCCA.”

Canada: The city administration of Langford in British Columbia plans to enact regulations requiring all public and private projects to use reduced-CO₂ concrete. It plans to support the rules with parallel measures affecting the design of buildings.

Victoria News has reported that the city authorities previously mandated reduced-CO₂ cement for all projects in June 2022, but subsequently relaxed the regulations after only one company – Butler Concrete and Aggregates – completed the transition. Butler Concrete and Aggregates produces its reduced-CO₂ concrete using slag cement supplied by Lafarge Canada.