Lafarge’s ECOCycle Technology drives circular construction at St. Constant Plant

MONTREAL — Lafarge Canada has completed the initial phase of its pilot project of ECOCycle Technology, integrating concrete demolition materials into cement manufacturing at the St. Constant plant near Montreal.

In Canada, an estimated 10 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste is generated each year, with four million tonnes being concrete. At the St. Constant cement plant, the use of construction and demolition materials in cement production is being put to test, states a release, adding supported by Geocycle Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holcim, Lafarge collects and manages the processing of the materials.

Over the past year, the project has integrated about 10,000 tonnes of old concrete and building demolition material into the manufacturing process for new cement. The cement produced during this phase of the project has proven to be of equivalent performance to traditional cement and meets all local requirements.

“By reusing construction and demolition wastes in the production of new building materials, we are reducing waste sent to landfill,” said David Redfern, president and CEO of Lafarge Canada (East), in a statement. “Across Lafarge Canada we’re evaluating any opportunity to decarbonize our operations and circularity is part of this effort. This pilot is critical to demonstrate that we can effectively repurpose concrete waste which goes a long way to conserve our naturally occurring resources and loops in construction sustainability – building new from old.”