Cement, Energy and Environment

(d) sustainable development in the coast. A proposal has been received from Government of Gujarat requesting amendment to the CRZ Notification, 1991 for permitting mining of limestone and other minerals in the CRZ area. (e) The amendments to the CRZ Notification, 1991 will be based on the recommendations made by the Prof. M.S. Swaminathan Committee Report dated 16- 07-2009 including the activities relating to mining and the outcome of the consultation process that the Ministry has been holding with the local communities of the coastal areas for the last four months. Courtesy: FIMI (Federation of Indian Mineral Industries) News Bulletin, 15April, 2010, P39. Waste to Wealth & Waste Recycling CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS OFFERS BUSINESS Navi Mumbai plant turns waste into building blocks Municipal authorities in Mumbai could take cue from Navi Mumbai on managing buildings debris dumped in land– fills. Maharashtra's City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and a non– profit organisation, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), have jointly set up a plant in Navi Mumbai that converts debris into relatively cheap and durable concrete blocks, bricks and paving blocks. The CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre in Kharghar town started operations on February 11 . A recycled concrete block costs As. 21 as against As. 28 for a block made from fresh material. The recycled blocks were tested at CIDCO's laboratory; their strength was above average, said Kishore Wankhade, senior research associate with YUVA. "It is the country's first such commercial facility," he said. "We started the debris recycling plant three years ago on an experimental basis. It has been upgraded and can produce 1,300 hollow concrete blocks and 4,000 pavers a day," he added. The recycled products are economical and would save on use of fresh construction material, Wankhade said. Mumbai, for instance, consumes 1.8 million clay bricks a year. The plant receives waste in the form of concrete lumps, stones, bricks and broken tiles. These are segregated and useful waste is fed into a crusher and reduced to 7 mm to 10 mm particles. The crushed debris is mixed with cement and water to produce concrete blocks. The total cost of the facility is As. 30 lakh; a part of the cost (As 18.26 lakh) was borne by t he Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council under t he Union housing ministry. CIDCO provided the 3,500 sq metre plot for the plant at a nominal lease amount of As. 900. CIDCO'S chief planner D V Shekdar said he plans to introduce debris recycling plants at Kamothe and Airoli in Navi Mumbai. Discussions are on with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to set up a similar facility in Mumbai. Courtesy: Down To Earth, March 31 , 2010, P20. RECYCLED COAL WASTE CAN BE USED FOR PRODUCING CEMENT According to London Commodity News report, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's chief challenged criticism that a pending coal– waste proposal would damage the building-materials industry, said that the waste produced by coal-fired power plants may be safely recycled into products such as cement. The Obama administration is walking a fine line as it seeks to regulate coal ash after a December 2008 spill from a Tennessee Valley Authority facility sent about a billion gallons of ash and water over as many as 300 acres. That raised public health tears, since coal 63