cement plants in croatia
HOLCIM, Koromačno,
NEXE, Našice


and


CEMEX

DALMACIJACEMENT


 
The Polluters
The press conference on harmfulness of Dalmacijacement

Three Croatian environmental NGOs (from Split, Kaštela and Solin) called the press conference on 22.01.2003. to alert the public that “Dalmacijacement-Readymix” (now CEMEX) company is changing their kiln technology in order to introduce coal and petrol-coke as a fuel (as opposed to less harmful oil). The company director announced the coal burning as introduction to the waste burning which is to include hazardous waste. Waste burning in cement kilns which will be enabled by the newly introduced technology.

An year after the press conference the company started with coal burning. The result is multiplied increase in emissions of previously released harmful and toxic matter, as well as introduction of a series of new, extremely toxic and carcinogenic materials - although the company claims they do not burn the waste yet.

The another aim of the press conference was to inform media and public that Croatian government in September 2002 passed a decree allowing industry in Croatia:

1. To multiply emissions of harmful and toxic matter into air
2. To exceed these newly set limits - up to three times until 31. December 2008
3. Not to make any measurements of the pollution emissions until 1. July 2004.

In another words the Croatian government allowed:

1. Indefinite pollution since Sept. 2002 till July 2004,
2. three times higher pollution of the nominal values until the beginning of 2009
3. after that incomparably greater pollution with respect to pollution allowed before this decree.

This kind of incentive and tolerance for pollutants that Croatian government exhibits is probably without the precedence around the world. These careless and harmful decisions suggest the high level of corruption in the government. The decree was made in 2002 but government following that one did not change anything with respect to this.

Probably the most harmful decision passed in this decree is that cement plants become at the same time waste burning facilities. It is outrageous that just prior to this decree a petition was signed by more than 10 000 people in the area around “Dalmacijacement” against this. In this petition citizens required from Croatian government to stop yet another ecological tragedy caused by “Dalmacijacement” that had 50 year record of the worst eco incidents in the area. This time the company deliberately plotted out the pollution with coal and waste.

When waste, communal or hazardous is burned the emissions include a series of heavy metals (like mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic and thallium) as well as palette of other toxic and carcinogenic matters. Of these the most poisonous are dioxins and furans which are some of the most toxic compounds known). They cause genetic mutations and serious harm in the tissue of people of all ages. They are extremely carcinogenic, cause aggressive behavior, psychological abnormalities and destroy the immune system of organisms. Dioxins accumulate in alive organisms and they get eliminated only through the breast feeding. Children being breast fed that way drink mother’s milk enriched with dioxins and can be exposed to the level of dioxins 10-20 times higher than adults. Babies that are exposed to dioxins before the birth are 100 times more susceptible to their harmful influence than adults.

When waste is burned in cement kilns, poisons and carcinogenic matters that do not get released into surrounding stay in the cement itself and later on are literally built in into houses and apartments. RMC group does not care about that because market for their products are primarily Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decree of Croatian government according to which cements plants become also the waste burning facilities, opens the possibility of burning hazardous and chemical waste camouflaged as petrol-coke or if needed even without the camouflage (as announced by Vinko Janjak, DC-RMC director from “Slobodna Dalmacija” 29.11.2000: “we could burn also waste oils (sic!!).

In addition, this opens the possibility of bringing in the hazardous waste from other countries like Great Britain to Croatia. As the management of the company says on their own, RMC company which is the owner of “Dalmacijacement” through the joint company “Hales Waste Control” is “one of the greatest waste managers and disposers in the Great Britain”

Although from time to time from Dalmacijacement they claim they are not interested for waste burning (S.D. 27. 12. 2000.) this “not-interestedness” had been demanted in the media several times. By Vinko Janjak himself, for example who is the director of the Dalmacijacement-RMC who said “Waste burning in the factory would not be a problem at all…we could burn plastic, cardboard, paper…waste oils”

This has been confirmed by the Croatian ministry of environmental protection because they were told by the management of DC that waste burning is “one of their first three priorities”.

Because of all these reasons, we request from Croatian ministry of environmental protection

1. to invalidate the decree by which they allow usage of coal in DC
2. to invalidate the decree by which they allow cement plants to burn waste and in which they also allow incomparably greater emissions of harmful and toxic elements and compounds for industry.

3. We also demand of the Croatian government to finally begin respecting the law related to waste so that valuable materials from the waste would be recycled and not burned.

The request signed up by: Enviromental protection organization “Sunce” from Split, “Lijepa naša Kaštela” from Kaštela and “Život” from Solina, with supppotrt of organizations: “Živa Zemlja”, Zagreb; "ZELENI OSIJEK", Osijek; “KOMPOST”, Osijek; and “Inicijativni odbor”, Koromačno.

 
01. 08. 2006. cemex croatia
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cemex and ironworks, 1. 8. 2006., 6:14h
   
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01. 08. 2006. cemex croatia..
 
Kaštela/ Cemex in Croatia -august 2006...
   
 
01. 08. 2006. cemex croatia
 
Cemex-Dalmacijacement, kaštel Sućurac, 1. 08. 2006. oko 6:14h..
 
 
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Split/ Croatia, 4. 11. 2006....
 
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cemex_kolovoz 2005.
 
Cemex cementara "SV." JURAJ, Kaštel Sućurac, 8. 8. 2005.
Dvije godine nakon ulaganja 19 milijuna Eura u "najsuvremenije vrecaste filtre i zatvoreni sustav za pretovar"
   
 
cemex_croatia_ 2006.
 
Cemex cementara "Sv." Juraj, Kaštel Sućurac, CEMEX u Hrvatskoj, 4. 4. 2006.
Tri godine nakon ulaganja 19 milijuna Eura u "najsuvremenije vrecaste filtre" i zatvoreni sustav za pretovar!??
 

 

 

The fundamental problem with cement kiln hazardous waste
incineration is that it has the effect of putting 100% of the toxic metals found in hazardous
waste into the environment, either as clinker, cement kiln dust or air pollution.
Mercury control is particularly poor at cement kilns.

Alex J. Sagady & Associates, US Environmental specialists