Cement producer Lafarge Canada has installed a new facility at its Exshaw, Alta. plant, shown in a handout photo, that will use construction waste to reduce the plant's reliance on fossil fuels. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Lafrage Canada
Calgary— Lafarge Canada Inc. has launched a new facility at its Exshaw plant in Alberta to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by using construction waste. The $38-million facility, unveiled in a ceremony on Thursday, will convert discarded wood, which would otherwise end up in landfills producing methane, into energy for cement production.
The company estimates that this alternative fuel will replace up to 50 percent of the natural gas typically used for one of the plant's cement kilns.
Geocycle Canada, Lafarge’s subsidiary specializing in alternative fuels and raw materials, will process construction demolition waste into low-carbon fuel and transport it to the plant.
This new initiative is expected to divert 120,000 tonnes of construction waste from landfills annually and reduce the plant's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 30,000 tonnes per year, which is roughly the equivalent of taking 9,200 cars off the road.
The Exshaw plant is one of Lafarge's largest in North America, supplying cement across Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
