CARIBBEAN Cement Company has earmarked at least 20 per cent of its planned US$40-million investment this year to up its sustainability efforts as the company pushes for net-zero status.

Speaking at a recent Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA)-led Manufacturers 360° tour of the cement maker’s Rockfort plant in Kingston, managing director of Caribbean Cement Jorge Martínez said the company’s advancement in its sustainability efforts, including the repurposing of tyres, will help to cut carbon emissions as it also scales back some operational expenses.

“This is another of the projects in which we are investing and we have been making significant investments in our company. For this year into the next, we will be investing more than US$40 million to move ahead with our plans. We plan to get some more tyres and also some different RDF (refuse derived fuel) and alternative fuels,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“At the moment our first goal for the end of this year is to at least reach 10 per cent alternative fuels. That means we will be removing some of those fuels that are not renewable, substituting it with ones that are. This is part of our future in action programme and some of these actions are also related with the reuse of some materials in the plant as we take waste materials from other industries and beach clean-ups for repurposing and try to reuse them in any way we can,” he added.

The repurposing of tyres which commenced following a Government of Jamaica partnership seeks to safely and sustainably remove a significant portion of the estimated 1.5 million tyres at the Riverton dump along with other materials such as pallets, which Caribbean Cement now uses as alternative fuel sources in the cement-making process. With the help of its XRC3000c shredder obtained from the Austria-based industrial manufacturer UNTHA, the company said it has to date managed to shred more than 9,000 tyres.

Tight-lipped on how the repurposing activities are likely to cut fuel costs, the director nevertheless expressed optimism that it will result in substantial savings.

Operating expenses for the company up to the end of March amounted to $4.7 billion — $1.3 billion of which was spent on fuel and electricity costs during the period. For the three months revenues grew to $7.6 billion as profits soared to $1.9 billion.

Following the commissioning of its Ultimate Technology for Industrial Savings (UTIS) device last year, which uses water electrolysis to enhance specific heat consumption, the company advanced its efforts in promoting a circular economy. This, while spending millions to optimise the plant’s combustion chamber and to explore different and newer sources of alternative fuels.

“In keeping with our future in action, there are also some specific efforts to build out some more mangroves across the island. For 2023, we also have some specific targets which will see us scaling down more on our carbon footprint,”Martínez said.