PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
MAIN PAGE | EVENTS & PROGRAMS | 1999 | IGM | ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

32nd International General Meeting May 14-19, 1999 Hong Kong, China

Main Page Policy Statements Speakers Speeches Photos The PBEC Environmental Award has been established to honor PBEC member companies that make substantial contributions to the enhancement of global environmental protection. Presentation of the award reflects PBEC's commitment to promoting environmentally responsible business practices. By honoring these companies, PBEC hopes that their achievements will become broadly recognized by the international community, and will serve as a model for others to follow. Green Island Cement (Holdings) Ltd. is a division of CKI Material, the material arm of publicly listed Cheung Kong Infrastructure (Holdings) Ltd. The company is primarily engaged in the production and distribution of construction materials in Hong Kong SAR and the Guangdong Province of the PRC. The company recognizes that demand for construction materials emanates from population growth and urbanization. As cities develop, both consumption of natural resources and generation of wastes become unavoidable. As a long-term strategy, Green Island has diligently integrated its production process with waste recycling to minimize its impact on the environment. The company has developed several environmental programs, including a waste to raw material plan, a waste to energy plan, a waste reduction plan, and an emission reduction plan. Waste to Raw Material Plan The company policy is to employ recycled or industrial waste material as a substitute for raw material in the cement manufacturing process. Four programs have been developed with impressive results: Flyash Program, PFA Blended Cement Program, Industrial Waste Program, and Flue-gas Desulphuric Gypsum Program. The disposal of flyash generated from coal firing power plants has been a component of Green Island's environmental plan since the early 1980's. To reduce usage of natural resources, Green Island's cement plant uses flyash to substitute as the raw material in producing cement clinker, which is an intermediate product of cement. The flyash off-take has increased steadily from 220,000t in 1991 to 430,000t in 1997. Green Island introduced the use of PFA (Pulverized Fuel Ash) blended cement to the Hong Kong construction industry. The usage of PFA blended cement not only resolves part of the flyash problem, it also lessens the clinker requirement. Moreover, PFA blended cement has proved more durable than conventional cement. The utilization of PFA blended cement has been increased from 158,000t in 1991 to 616,000t in 1997. Industrial waste from the metal industry is a large part of Green Island's raw material supply. Green Island uses crushed fines of steel grade limestone, which otherwise must be disposed of. In addition, Green Island recycles refinery slag from the copper smelting process, instead of virgin iron oxide. Flue-gas Desulphuric Gypsum (FDG) is a waste product from coal-fired power plants. Successfully modifying its facility, Green Island now replaces natural gypsum with FDG in its cement manufacturing process, eliminating the need for FDG disposal. The intake of FDG was up to 72,000t in 1997, which is a 67% replacement of natural gypsum usage. Waste to Energy Plan Manufacturing cement consumes vast amounts of energy. Green Island's policy is to employ alternative fuels as substitutes for conventional energy sources. Towards this end, Green Island has developed the Marpol Derived Fuel (MDF) Program and the Carbon Separation Program. Marpol is a waste residue from the fuel tanks of ocean-going vessels, which can be a major pollutant if not treated properly. The high treatment cost of Marpol at CWTC has led to illegal dumping and smuggling of Marpol to mainland China. Green Island cooperated with EPD to carry out a trial burn of Marpol in its facility in 1996. A waste disposal license for final disposal of MDF was gained in February 1997, and 19,000t of MDF were handled that year. This operation has made the Marpol treatment process more efficient, which in turn has enabled the Hong Kong SAR to waive the Marpol treatment charges. Green Island is also looking to flyash as an alternative fuel source. Flyash contains unburned carbon. Green Island has launched a study on recovering and utilizing this unburned carbon in order to further reduce the company's consumption of coal. Waste Reduction Plan The objective of the Waste Reduction Plan is to eliminate the discharge of waste, to establish recycling, and to promote environmental awareness. Since the launch of this plan, Green Island has reduced its water consumption by 40%. Moreover, Green Island recycles office paper, soft drink cans, alloy, and other materials. Green Island staff works according to the ISO 14000 model. This includes the "paperless office," "green plan," "green community," and "EIA at work." Emission Reduction Plan Green Island has worked closely with local authorities to improve its environmental performance. Improvement plans and best practical measures have been introduced to minimize emissions in order to achieve the overall Air Quality Objective (AQO). In order to reduce greenhouse gasses, Green Island has launched two improvement programs: The BTM Replacement Program and the Halon Replacement Program. The BTM system had been installed as the standard fire fighting system for electrical installation. However, the FM200 system is more environmental friendly than the BTM system. Green Island decided to replace all BTM with the FM200 system. Green Island has also eliminated the use of halon, which possesses high ozone depletion potential. Additional Information: http://www.cki.com.hk/ http://www.pbec.org/