Other environmental impacts

Given that cement and aggregates are heavy, low-price, bulk products, transport choices are controlled primarily by cost considerations. These increasingly take environmental aspects into account and where possible, Group companies embrace opportunities for optimizing their distribution channels.

For example, Holcim Germany uses water transport to deliver granulated slag - a by-product of steel production - from the company's processing facility in Salzgitter to its cement plant in Höver. Approximately 200,000 tonnes of slag are transported each year via a waterway connecting the two locations.

Since 2001, Holcim Germany has also used biodiesel, derived from oilseed rape, as fuel for vehicles in its distribution network, which now includes 80 Holcim and 120 contractor trucks.