7/31/2019 #29-Gepra Newsletter April 2012
6/24
6
HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS 9FINANCIAL
FINCHANNEL.COM | 23 APRIL, 2012 greengreen
businessbusinessEnvironment Protection
a Core Element of HeidelbergCements
Sustainability PolicyThe FINANCIAL
By MARIAM PAPIDZE
HeidelbergCementsentire investment inGeorgia amounts tomore than
200 mil-
lion EUR, out of which morethan 12 million EUR has beenallocated
for environmentprotection alone. Installa-tion of new fabric f
lters, theQuarry Life Award and PublicPrivate Partnership
projectsare the main projects of Hei-delbergCement within
theframework of environmentprotection.
We have a big responsibil-ity not just for our production
but for the environment aswell, Akaki Chkhaidze, Salesand
Marketing Director atHeidelbergCement Caucasus,told The FINANCIAL.
Inaccordance with the Groupsstandards and sustainabilitypolicy,
HeidelbergCement hasbeen focusing on environ-ment protection in
Georgiasince 2006, he added.WhatQ. What responsibili-ties do you
feel inties do you feel in re-gards to your productgards to your
productand the way you make itand the way you make ithaving an
impact on thehaving an impact on theenvironment?environment?
A. The installation of newfabric f lters at the Rustaviand Kaspi
plants is a signif -cant contribution to environ-ment protection.
More than12 million EUR was investedfor the purpose of
de-dustingwith the installation of newfabric f lters. Both plants
op-erate six kilns in total, so thesix new fabric f lters had to
beinstalled without signif cantlydisrupting the
productionprocess.
The problem of pollution isof great concern to the popu-lation
of Georgia. The com-pany takes on an enormousresponsibility for the
welfareof the people, especially for
those who live in the areaof the plants. By installingmodern f
lter technologies,cement dust reduced by 99percent. Thus, in
addition toclimate protection, replacingthe old f lters with new
oneswill optimize cement produc-tion.
Local authorities stronglysupport HeidelbergCementin Georgia
which is proved bythe memorandum on cooper-ation with the Georgian
Min-istry of Environment Protec-tion and Natural Resources.
In discussing this issue it isimportant to pay attention tothe
standards of the companyitself. If the company doesnot meet the
standards, thenany type of production mayhave a negative impact
onthe environment. As for Hei-delbergCement, its policy isrelevant
to international stan-dards. That means that thefactory in Georgia
and otherfactories, i.e. in Germany,have the same f lter
technolo-gies. Using these f lters meansthat the risk of pollution
isminimal.
Q. Asides from f lters,what other projects arebeing implemented
by
HeidelbergCement in theframework of environ-ment protection?
A. We started implement-ing a very important projectin December
last year. Thisis an international projectabout international
scientif cand educational competi-tion - The Quarry Life
Award,conducted simultaneously in
more than f fteen countries,including Georgia. Studentsand
researchers and NGOpartnerships were invitedto participate in the
QuarryLife Award individually or asteams.
The idea of this competitionis the protection and promo-tion of
biodiversity in quar-ries during and after extrac-
tion. This competition givesus the opportunity to showthat
quarrying operations arecompletely in line with envi-ronment
protection.
In addition, following ourbiodiversity managementguideline
(which was inci-dentally the f rst ever issuedbiodiversity
guideline by abuilding materials producer)is essential for having
propercommunication with local so-ciety to prepare for optimaluse
of the land after raw ma-terial extraction has ended.
Consequently the competitionoffers this tool for the
involve-ment of communities in bio-diversity management.
Three quarries are open forthe national, Georgian com-petition:
Kavtiskhevi Lime-stone Quarry (Shida Kar-tli), Gardabani Clay
Quarry(Kvemo Kartli), and Dedo-plistskaro Limestone Quarry
(Kakheti).The f rst edition of the
Quarry Life Award launchedby HeidelbergCement elicite dstrong
interest from studentsand researchers. Over 300project proposals
are com-peting in eighteen countrieson four continents. Accord-ing
to international statistics,Georgia reached the highestnumber of
project proposalsof all eighteen countries par-ticipating.
As for Georgia, 19,3 04 hitson the website show the read-
iness of the public to be activeparticipants in
biodiversitydevelopment. 215 personswere registered on the
QuarryLife Award site and 53 inter-esting proposals have
beensubmitted for the Quarry LifeAward.
The competition had twostages, submission of an ideaand project
submission. The
result of the f rst stage is thatthe f ve best proposals
weredisplayed this year. They havetill September to write outtheir
projects and the jury inBrussels will name the win-ner. The
competition willhave winners on a nationallevel and winners
selected bythe global jury. Three winnerson the national level,
selectedby the national jury, can re-ceive f nancial support
fromHeidelbergCement to coverthe project costs and will beawarded
with 1,500, 3,000and 5,000 EUR respectively.Global winners selected
by theglobal jury will be awarded10,000, 20,000 and 30,000EUR
respectively.
The Georgian Ministry ofEnvironment Protection andNatural
Resources was in-volved in this project and itsMinister was one of
the jurymembers.Q. What aboutQ. What aboutthe Pub-the
Pub-lic-Private-Partnershiplic-Private-Partnershipproject running
in Geor-project running in Geor-gia?gia?
A. After extracting rawmaterials, i.e. limestone, it isimportant
to restore the quar-ries - the land should be madeuseful again.
The goal of the PPP (public- Private - Partnership) proj-ect in
cooperation with theGerman GIZ (Gesellschaft frInternationale
Zusammenar-beit), is t o promote biodiver-sity through the
developmentand implementation of dif-ferent recultivation modelsin
all mining sites of Heidel-bergCement in Georgia. In
addition, this project aims topromote the share of experi-ence
on modern recultivation/ renaturation practice with avariety of
stakeholders (localcommunity, authorities, uni-versities,
etc.).
In the frames of the above-mentioned project Hei-delbergCement
Georgia issupported in developing a
modern recultivation / rena-turation technique which ful-ly
corresponds to the alreadyimplemented environmentalmanagement
systems.
With this new approach,local habitats adapted to thenatural
environment are de-veloped, as opposed to the re-cultivation
practice currentlyused in Georgia.Q. Please could youQ. Please
could youbrief y summarize Hei-brief y summarize Hei-delbergCements
activi-delbergCements activi-ties in Georgia?ties in Georgia?
A. HeidelbergCements ac-tivity in the Georgian cementmarket
began in 2006, since2008 HeidelbergCement hasexpanded in the
ready-mixedconcrete business line. Nowa-days, the company runs
threecement plants with total ce-ment production capacityof around
2 million tons peryear and three ready mixedconcrete plants in
Georgia.
The whole investment ofHeidelbergCement in Geor-gia is more than
200 mil-lion EUR. Over the period ofthe past three years
Heidel-bergCement has opened f veoperational units in Georgia:June
2008 - Opening of adry process cement plant inRustavi; April 2009 -
Start upof a concrete batching plant inTbilisi; April, 2010 -
Openingof the second concrete batch-ing plant in Tbilisi; April,
2011- Opening of Sufsa (Black Seacoast) cement terminal;
Sep-tember, 2011 - Mobile ready-mixed concrete plant
startedoperation.
HeidelbergCement is the
global market leader in aggre-gates and a prominent playerin the
f elds of cement, con-crete and other downstreamactivities, making
it one ofthe worlds largest manufac-turers of building
materials.The company employs some53,000 people at 2,500 loca-tions
in more than 40 coun-tries.
AKAKI CHKHAIDZE, Sales and Marketing Director at
HeidelbergCement Caucasus
#28aprili
20
12
23
,2012
