Costa Rica: Holcim Costa Rica has inaugurated a new US$650,000, 25m3/hr ready-mix concrete plant in Agua Caliente, Cartago. The El Financiero newspaper has reported that the new plant is equipped to produce Dynamax high-performance concrete and ECOCycle circular concrete. The plant will employ 13 people, including Costa Rica’s first women concrete mixer truck drivers.
CEO Natalia Soler noted the convenient proximity of the concrete plant to its 1.1Mt/yr Agua Caliente cement plant.
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.
UK: A team at Northumbria University in Newcastle has launched new research into 3D printing using a new Platypus 3D concrete printer supplied by ChangeMaker 3D and Australia-based Luyten 3D. The university received funding for the equipment from national scientific academy the Royal Society.
Spain: Cemex España has purchased two additional electric concrete mixer trucks (e-mixers) for its fleet. Alimarket-Construcción News has reported that one e-mixer will operate at the San Fernando ready-mix concrete batching plant in Madrid and the other at the Sant Just ready-mix concrete batching plant in Barcelona.
