SANTO DOMINGO.- "With the right regulatory mechanisms, the country's cement industry could be the solution for more than 40% of the waste generated in the country," said Miguel Ángel Justo, Sustainability Advisor for the Caribbean Cluster.
"It should not be cheaper to dispose of waste in a landfill than to treat it correctly, in an environmentally safe and circular way," she stated during the 8th edition of the Sustainable Profits event organized by the National Business Support Network for Environmental Protection (ECORED), whose presidency is held by Dania Heredia, legal director of Cemex.
Justo said that one of the keys to moving forward and tackling the problem of waste will be to have regulatory frameworks that promote the circular management of urban solid waste and that from excavation, construction and demolition, where its burial should be avoided and instead its use as an alternative raw material for new products or in industrial processes as sources of energy through co-processing should be promoted.
"This requires a collective public-private commitment for the rapid adoption of public policies that allow the transition to a circular economy," a press release highlights.
The executive considered it important that the country continue working with the prioritization of climate action in order to complete the implementing regulations of the General Law on Comprehensive Management and Co-processing of Solid Waste No. 225-20 related to adequate economic incentives that ensure the return of investors, as well as promoting "fees for waste disposal in sanitary landfills that encourage proper disposal through treatment and recovery and co-processing plants.
“Circularity is one of the pillars of our Future in Action program, in which we have been orienting our business towards the use of waste as alternative fuels to replace fossil fuels. This includes replacing virgin raw materials with alternative raw materials that have a lower carbon footprint, as well as using excavation, demolition, and construction waste,” Justo explained.
Cemex calls for addressing environmental problems
Likewise, Cemex Dominicana urged businesses and authorities to address the environmental and health problems caused by delays in the proper management of solid waste with sustainability criteria and called for a united effort in this regard.
"Cemex Dominicana is promoting initiatives that favor the sustainability of the construction and cement industry sector for the development of real estate projects and sustainable communities in line with its Future in Action strategy," the press release states.
He explains that the Future in Action strategy has six pillars: development of sustainable products and solutions, decarbonizing operations, circularity, water protection, biodiversity, innovation and alliance and promotion of the green economy.
"This strategy goes hand in hand with the Regenera initiative, launched by Cemex globally, which provides circularity solutions, including the reception, handling, recycling and co-processing of waste.".
It adds that, in this vein, Cemex Dominicana, in partnership with multinationals committed to sustainability such as Nestlé Dominicana, DP World, Imperial Tobacco, and Almacenes del Norte, maintains collaborative agreements for the co-processing of usable waste such as tires, tobacco production waste, and others, which are transformed into raw materials and used in the cement plant's operational processes. This prevents more waste from reaching Dominican landfills and gradually replaces the use of fossil fuels with alternative fuels, while decarbonizing operations.
