For a zero-waste future

Updated GIZ-Holcim/Geocycle Pre- and Co-Processing Guidelines

Cemtech Conference Sharmistha Nandi (sharmistha.nandi@geocycle.com)
September 2021 Steffen Blume (steffen.blume@giz.de)
Agenda
1. The waste and resource problem
2. Definition of Pre- and co-processing
3. Pre- and Co-processing in the context of integrated waste management
4. The circular economy transition
5. Climate Change Aspects
6. An updated version of the Pre- and Co-processing Guidelines
7. Marine litter prevention project “Reducing Plastic leakage into the Ocean”
8. Conclusions

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The Global Waste and Resource Challenge
• Global waste generation could increase 70% by
2050 at current levels.
• 3.4 – 4.0 billion tons of waste generated every year
• Global recycling rate is at 9.1% and in developing
countries 4%
• Shifting towards circular economy is complex, but
waste collection is a critical step in managing
Collection rate (%) waste.
Africa Middle East Eurasia Europe America
• Cement is most-used manufactured substance on
the planet and global cement production is
expected to grow by 12% by 2050 (today 4.1 billion
tons/a)
Other Asia Pacific • Cements production is energy and resource
India intensive and has considerable climate impact
China

Sources: What a Waste 2.0 - A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050, World Bank Group, 2018
Technology Roadmap - Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry, IEA, CSI, 2018
3
Pre-Processing & Co-Processing - a waste management solution,
improving the resource efficiency of cement production
• Pre-processing transforms heterogeneous wastes
into more homogeneous Alternative Fuels and Raw
Materials (AFR) that comply with the environmental
and operational requirements of the cement plant.
• The technology referred as co-processing is the safe
destruction of waste occurs parallel to the cement
manufacturing process, at high temperatures and
long residence time existing in cement kilns
• Selected waste materials in cement production are
known as AFR.
 Alternative Fuels (AF) are replacing conventional
fossil fuels by recovering the calorific value of the
waste
 Alternative Raw Materials (AR) and ashes of

Alternative Fuels are replacing natural raw

materials by recycling useful minerals (Ca, Si, Fe,
Al) contained in the waste.

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Pre- and Co-processing has become a well-established waste
management solution in developed countries
• However, uptake in developing and emerging
economies is slow
• Globally only about 5% of the thermal energy
demand in cement production is covered by AF.
• Some countries, for example India and Egypt, and
CSI have developed low-carbon roadmaps
including higher co-processing rates.
• Pre- and Co-processing can provide a safe and
environmentally sound solution as part of an
integrated waste management plan.

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Pre- and Co-processing can provide an important contribution to
the circular economy transition
• Safe elimination of harmful substances that
shall not be kept in the loop of a circular
economy.
• Best use of residual waste which reached its
end-of-life status and can’t be recycled
anymore
• Conservation of primary resources (raw
materials and fuels) by replacing them with
secondary resources
• Energy recovery and mineral recycling from
waste for which (closed-loop) recycling is not
yet feasible
• Use of existing cement plants with moderate
additional investments into pre-processing and
co-processing facilities
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Pre- and Co-Processing is mitigating climate change by reducing
GHG emissions from the cement and waste sector
• About 5% of global emissions derive from waste
management
• The cement sector currently represents about 7%
of the global carbon dioxide emissions
• Co-Processing is reducing direct CO2 emission
by use of :
 biomass fuels (e.g. rice husk, sewage sludge)
 mixed fuels (e.g. RDF from MSW, used tires)
 fossil waste fuels with lower emission factor

• Co-Processing is reducing indirect CO2

emission by:
 Avoiding CO2 emissions from open burning or
incineration w/o energy recovery
 Avoiding methane emissions from dumpsites

and landfills w/o landfill gas capture

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Importance of Robust Financing
• Differing expectations on financing aspects
 Municipalities expect to get paid for their
waste
 Cement plants expect often to receive a
gate fee and maximum cover O&M costs
(meaning paying the preprocessor and not
municipality)
• Common understanding of financial
implications helps to find common ground
• Below land filling fee of 10 - 25USD is
unlikely to finance pre- and co-processing
• In the long term: carbon pricing and public
reputation influence decision making (though
not yet a factor)
Fig. Cost revenue waterfall for co-processing

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Update of GIZ-Holcim/Geocycle Guidelines on Pre- and Co-processing
of waste as AFR in cement production
• GIZ, FHNW, Holcim and Geocycle have updated the 2006
Guidelines on Co-processing Waste Materials in Cement
Production to support further development of environmentally
sound and safe pre- and co-processing in developing countries.
2006
• Objective of the new guidelines:
 Improve waste management by offering updated and objective

information about Pre- and Co-processing of waste in the

cement industry
 Promote Pre- and Co-processing as a competitive and

sustainable waste management solution

 Facilitate close collaboration between the public and private

2020 sectors on the topic

 Set ambitious global standards for companies active in Pre-

and Co-Processing
 Share good practices and propose means for capacity

building to ensure sound application of the technology

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Update of GIZ-Holcim/Geocycle Guidelines on Pre- and Co-processing
of waste as AFR in cement production
What’s new?

Stronger The role of Pre- and Co-

Processing for
focus on 1. the Circular Economy,
New Case Studies
e.g. Austria, Philippines,
Pre- 2. improving Resource Efficiency,
3. mitigating Climate Change and
China, Egypt, Argentina,
Colombia and Ukraine.
Processing 4. mitigating Marine Litter.
5. Informal sector engagement

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Principles and Requirements
Principles and Requirements
Guidelines for Pre- and Co-processing – setting the foundations

Summary
Key messages, Guidelines in:
FAQs ENG, FR, ES, CH, AR
Aiming at improving
waste management by
offering updated and
objective information.
Addressing stakeholders
and decision makers
Assessment Matrix from the private and
Principles & public sectors.
requirements for provide guiding
assessing readiness in a principles and general
local situation and orientation concerning for
specific context. pre- and co-processing.

Available from GIZ and Geocycle websites 13

 Project: Reducing Plastic Leakage into the Ocean (RePlitO)
Material Recovery Facility, Philippines
Beach Clean-up Activities, Morocco
• Annual plastic production stands at 350 mio tons with
growing trend and about 90% of floating marine litter is
plastic, largely packaging material.
• Some plastics are recycled in limited quantities (PET,
packaging) due to its characteristics, lack of local
recycling market and no economic value and prone to
marine litter for low value plastics
Plastic waste collection centers, Mexico
• Co-processing can be viable treatment option for
none recyclable plastics
→ RePlitO Project aims to initiate environmentally and
socially sound solutions for reducing plastic leakage into
the ocean in four urban areas.
• Strategic Partnership GIZ and Holcim
Geocycle Bubble Barrier, India
• Project period: 01/2018 to 12/2021
• Four countries (Mexico, Morocco, India, Philippines)
• Four focus areas: Improvement of waste management,
monitoring, awareness creation and policy advise (link)
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Case study: Fnideq, Morocco

Population MSW MSW

generation generation

0.84 77
92,000
kg/cap/day t/day
Example Waste Flow Diagram: Fnideq, Morocco

Informal value- Informal sorting Sorted for recovery

chain 21% 21%
collection
21%

Plastic Waste
146 tonnes/year
Collected by 1.6 kg/cap/year
Generation
5’402 t/y Sent to disposal Retained at
(100%) Formal service 53 PET
71%bottles/cap/year disposal site
providers 71%
72%

Retained on land 4%
Uncollected 7% Unmanaged 8% Water 3%
Burnt 0.6%
All %’s are in reference to the total plastic waste generated
Drains 0.4%
Example Waste Flow Diagram: Fnideq, Morocco

Visualization of black spots and wild dumps or deposits

All %’s are in reference to the total plastic waste generated

Example Waste Flow Diagram: Malabon, Manila

Population MSW MSW

generation generation

0.83 303
365,000
kg/cap/day t/day

All %’s are in reference to the total plastic waste generated

Waste Flow Diagram: Malabon, Manila
Sorted for recovery
31%

Informal sorting
4%
Collected by
Formal service

1.641 tonnes/year
providers
85%
Plastic Waste
Generation 4.5 kg/cap/year
Sent to disposal
22’476 t/y Retained at
150 PET bottles/cap/year
54%
disposal site
(100%)
49%

Informal value-
chain
collection
3%

Retained on land 11%

Uncollected 12%
Unmanaged 20% Water 7%
Project examples: Malabon, Manila, Philippines
Waste Flow Diagram: Tulum, Mexico

Population MSW MSW

generation generation

2.57 113
44,000
kg/cap/day t/day

All %’s are in reference to the total plastic waste generated

Waste Flow Diagram: Tulum, Mexico Sorting by
informal sector 3%
Informal 8% Sorted for recovery
Sorting by
value-chain formal sector 5%
collection 3%

Disposal
73%
53 tonnes/year
Collected
Plastic waste by service
providers
1.2 kg/cap/year
generation 40 PET bottles/cap/year
81%
5’985 T/y
(100%)

16% Retained
Uncollected Unmanaged on land
15% 1% Water
18%
2% Burnt
Puntos Limpios, Tulum, Mexico

Link to Puntos Limpios Tulum

PUNTOS LIMPIOS TULUM

https://fb.watch/3A3QGjSZbv/

https://fb.watch/3A42muZ_KP/
 Awareness creation

PRACTICAL GUIDE
TO DECREASE
UNNECESSARY PLASTICS
IN THE HOTEL AND TOURISM
SECTOR OF QUINTANA ROO

Advocacy for waste workers in the Philippines

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Waste Flow Diagram: Agra, India

Population MSW MSW

generation generation

0.41 936
2,266,000
kg/cap/day t/day

All %’s are in reference to the total plastic waste generated

Waste Flow Diagram: Agra, India (draft)

501 tonnes/year
0.2 kg/cap/year
7 PET bottles/cap/year
 Key facts – Leakage Assessments in RePLitO case studies

TULUM FNIDEQ
MALABON AGRA
MEXICO MOROCCO
PHILIPPINES INDIA
Population 365’000 2’260’000 44’000 92.000
Unmanaged
plastic (ton/yr) 1640 501 53 146
Plastic leakage
(kg/per/day) 4.5 0.2 1.2 1.6
Results: Reducing plastic leakage into the ocean

Selected Results:
• 8 projects to improve local waste management providing
better waste services for about 100,000 people.
• Applied method to estimate plastic leakage (Waste
Flow Diagram)
• Contributed to avoiding over 1.3 million plastic items
through developing a practical guide to decrease
unnecessary plastics in the hotel and tourism sector in
Mexico.
• Updated global guidelines on pre- and co-processing
of plastic waste in cement production.
• Increased knowledge on waste management services
for about almost 1,500 waste workers and 1,200 school
pupils.
• Created 50 jobs for waste workers, who were informally
employed before.
• Created higher awareness on preventing plastic
pollution.
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 Conclusions

• Pre- and Co-processing cannot solve the global waste challenge alone, but can provide
an environmentally sound solution as part of an integrated waste management plan.
• The guidelines should not be understood as a “copy & paste” instruction for
implementing pre- and co-processing in a country.
• Capacity building needs to support the implementation of the guidelines to adapt them
to local needs.
• Pre- and Co-processing requires robust and adopted legal and institutional framework –
Guidelines can help to adopt
• The Guidelines should be implemented on the basis of a spirit of cooperation between
the public and private sector.
• The driving force can be national waste management and cement associations,
individual cement companies or the public sector. Whoever promotes it should do it in a
transparent manner and within a well-defined time horizon.
• The Guidelines can be downloaded from Geocycle and GIZ website
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Annex

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The unique characteristics of the cement production process
makes it ideally suited for Co-processing
• Complete destruction of organics due to high temperatures,
oxidizing atmosphere and long gas residence time
 precalciner (2-7 sec @ 850-900°C)
 kiln inlet (2-3 sec @ 1000-1100°C)
 main firing (6-8 sec @ 2000-1100°C)
• Absorption of acidic pollutants (SO2, HCl, HF) and due to
alkaline conditions and intensive mixing between exhaust
gas and finely dispersed raw material. With the exception of
very volatile elements (e.g. Hg, Tl, Cd) this is also the case
for other potentially toxic elements (PTEs).
• Short retention time of exhaust gases in the temperature
range known to lead to formation of dioxin and furans.
• Simultaneous energy recovery and mineral recycling
generating no residues:
 Energy recovery efficiency of 70-80%, higher as “waste-
to-energy” technologies.
 Material recycling efficiency of 100%, all mineral
components, non-volatile PTEs and other trace
elements (e.g. Cl, S) are fully incorporated into the
product.

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