Lime and cement
Tarmac is the UK's foremost producer of high-quality cement (from its facilities at Tunstead) and also manufactures lime products at both Tunstead and Hindlow in Derbyshire. We have invested in the most modern plants in the UK and are continually working to improve the sustainability performance of our lime and cement products, as well as to promote their use in key environmental applications.
Read more on Tarmac Buxton lime products
Read more on Tarmac's Buxton cement products
Manufacturing
Responsible sourcing
Tarmac’s lime and cement is independently certified as ‘VERY GOOD’ against the BES 6001 Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products. Tarmac is the first and only company to have achieved this certification for lime.
This certification enables customers who use our aggregates to gain extra points under the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment Scheme (CEEQUAL) and the Code for Sustainable Homes. It also reassures them that the materials they are using have been produced responsibly across Tarmac’s business.
Our UK operations are also accredited to the Achilles BuildingConfidence scheme.
Read more on responsible sourcing
Measuring carbon footprint
In 2011, Tarmac launched the industry’s first comprehensive Carbon Footprint Calculator. It enables us to provide customers with carbon footprint information for any product from any of our manufacturing locations in the UK.
Read more on Tarmac’s Carbon Footprint Calculator
Reducing energy and CO2 emissions
We have a longstanding commitment to reduce energy use in manufacturing and cut CO2. As well as our own efficiency programmes, we work with external partners like the Carbon Trust.
Manufacturing lime and cement are energy-intensive processes, but Tarmac has a long history of investing in ways to reduce the energy and CO2 emissions from its lime and cement operations.
We are doing this through improving process efficiencies, investing in new energy-efficient technology and using carbon-neutral biomass fuels as substitutes for fossil fuels. This focus has already enabled us to cut our CO2 emissions per tonne of cement* by 41% over the last ten years. In 2010, we also commissioned a new £13.4 million Maerz lime kiln at our Tunstead site which has helped to further reduce our CO2 emissions per tonne of lime produced.
* As Portland cement equivalent.
Read more on lime and cement production
Read more on energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases
Using waste as fuel
Our lime and cement business has a longstanding, comprehensive waste-derived fuels programme, using materials such as tyre chips, meat and bone meal (MBM), processed commercial waste (Calfuel) and wood chips to replace a proportion of the fossil fuels used in cement production. This helps us to reduce the amount of fossil fuel we use, preserving resources and diverting waste from landfill.
In addition, the carbon-neutral biomass portion of the waste derived fuels contributes to lowering our CO2 emissions.
Read more on our waste recycling and waste-derived fuels programme
Carbon Trust Standard
In early 2011, our whole UK organisation achieved the Carbon Trust Standard for our management and CO2 reduction performance over the past two years. We have delivered this reduction across all our UK operations.
Read more on the Carbon Trust Standard
Technical expertise
Tarmac understands cement and lime. Our expert teams support customers in a number of areas, from understanding legislation and specification to advising on product selection and meeting project-specific technical and sustainability requirements.
Supply chain management
Tarmac has achieved BuildingConfidence accreditation and is a member of the Achilles BuildingConfidence governing council. We are committed to the underlying principles of BuildingConfidence and will require our supply chain to gain accreditation over the next few years. Tarmac is also a member of the Construction Product Association’s Green Procurement Group, which was set up in 2007 to deliver greater transparency and open dialogue between companies throughout the supply chain to achieve CO2, energy and waste reduction targets.
Read more on supply chain management and responsible sourcing
Product quality and certification
Product quality
Our products are manufactured using quality and environmental management systems certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, so customers know that they are made with the utmost consideration for quality and the environment.
Read more on product quality
Recycled materials
Tarmac performs well above the UK average for the industry in replacing a proportion of the raw materials used in its production processes with recycled materials. The cement operation is designed so it does not produce any cement kiln dust, which is a common waste product at other cement works.
Read more on efficient use of natural resources
Efficient transport
We are maximising the use of rail across our UK business. About 24% of our cement is dispatched by rail to depots in Yorkshire, the Midlands and London. We are working with our hauliers on a wide range of projects to improve transport efficiency, for example by encouraging the use of fuel-efficient vehicles, facilitating driver training to minimise fuel consumption and using logistics management systems to increase operational efficiencies.
Read more on transport
IN-USE AND WHOLE-LIFE BENEFITS
Cement to cut CO2 in concrete and mortar
We make high-quality cement that maximises the opportunity to use higher levels of secondary cementitious materials, such as Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS) or fly ash, in the manufacture of ready mixed concrete and mortar. This helps to lower the overall carbon footprint of concrete and mortar.
We believe that the most sustainable way to produce lower CO2 concrete is to add these secondary cementitious materials at the concrete plant, rather than pre-blending at the cement plant. This has three main sustainability benefits: it significantly reduces the CO2 from transportation by minimising the number of product miles needed to ship GGBS and fly ash across the country; it avoids the energy involved in pre-blending cement; and it enables us to optimise the proportion of slag or fly ash according to the application rather than being constrained by a fixed blend.
We have also developed a Portland Limestone Cement, which is a lower CO2 cement.
Recarbonation
About 20% of the CO2 emitted during production of cement will be reabsorbed during its life cycle, a process called recarbonation. Calculations of cement’s CO2 footprint, up to the point of delivery, do not take this whole-life effect into account.
In many of its applications, lime will also recarbonate during the in-use phase.
Tarmac is the first and only company to have achieved 'VERY GOOD' BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing certification for its lime products.
