With the rapid growth of world population and urbanization, it is imperative to embrace circular construction to create progress and the future for humanity and the planet.

Lafarge Canada, a member of the Holcim Group, is taking a bold step towards circular economy and sustainable construction and announces the completion of the first phase of its ECOCycle technology pilot project. By integrating demolition materials into cement production at its St-Constant plant near Montreal, Lafarge Canada is solidifying its position as a North American innovator in circular construction, demonstrating its commitment to new construction from the old.

By reusing construction and demolition waste in the production of new building materials, we are reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill,” said David Redfern, President and CEO of Lafarge Canada (East), highlighting the importance of this pilot project. At Lafarge Canada, we are exploring all opportunities to decarbonize our operations and the circular economy is part of that effort. This pilot project is important to show that we can effectively reuse waste concrete, which makes a great contribution to conserving natural resources and is part of sustainable construction through new construction from the old .

An estimated 10 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste is generated in Canada each year, of which 4 million is concrete. Developing a process and demonstrating its feasibility to reuse recycled concrete waste in our cement is another way to make cement manufacturing more sustainable.

The St-Constant Cement Plant is testing the use of construction and demolition materials in cement production in Canada’s ecosystem. With the support of Geocycle Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holcim, we efficiently collect and manage the processing of these materials. Last year, the project incorporated around 10,000 tons of used concrete and demolition materials in the process of making new cement. The cement produced in this phase of the project has been shown to have equivalent performance to conventional cement and meets all local requirements. In particular, it is being used successfully by Lafarge Canada’s concrete division on construction projects in the greater Montreal area.

“We are committed to our goal of creating a circular building materials ecosystem and are making a significant impact on our carbon footprint by using these low-carbon materials as raw materials,” commented Andrew Stewart, vice president of cement at Lafarge Canada (East).

About Lafarge Canada Inc.

Lafarge Canada, a subsidiary of Holcim, is a leading global provider of innovative and sustainable building solutions. Driven by the goal of creating progress for humanity and the planet, the 60,000 employees aim to decarbonize construction while improving living standards for all. With its wide range of low-carbon and circular solutions such as ECOPact and ECOPlanet, the company enables customers in all regions to build better with less. Through its innovative systems, from Elevate roof to PRB insulation, Holcim makes buildings more sustainable to promote energy efficiency and ecological renovation. With sustainability at the heart of its strategy, Holcim is on track to become a net zero company with SBTi validated 1.5C targets.

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