Cement Manufacturer’s Association and Its Goal

by Tina Singh Professional Content Writer

In 1962, the Cement Manufacturers Association was established that includes both private and public sector cement manufacturing industries. The CMA was founded to attain the following objectives.

To promote the growth of cement industries
To find out new usage of cement
To protect consumer interests
Reduce waste and adopting new techniques to reduce environmental pollution

Cement Industry in India

India has emerged as the second-largest cement producer in the entire world after China. There are 210 large cement plants and 350 mini-plants operated by several cement companies in India producing 500 million tons of cement every year. Therefore, the cement industry holds an important segment in the Indian economy. In the last few decades, it has provided a job to more than one lakh people directly and indirectly. The government of India has also helped the cement industries to grow in recent years by launching several schemes related to massive infrastructure development and transportation. The plan of converting 100 cities into smart cities, up-gradation of 1,25,000 km of road, expansion of Indian railways, building tunnels, bridges, highways in northeast and border areas, etc. and real estate sector are the main demand drivers of cement consumption accountable for 65% of the total consumption rate of cement in India. The north-eastern part of India has opened the virgin market for cement manufacturers due to the number of ongoing infrastructures development projects.

Efforts Towards Sustainability

Such massive demand always calls for massive production of cement and this certainly affects our environment by consuming a non-renewable source of energy and producing hazardous waste that pollutes our environment. The CMA global partnerships have been formed with all the major cement manufacturers across the globe to work for the agenda of sustainability. CMA global partnership organizes several meetings throughout the year to build a platform for people to exchange ideas and address the issues related to environmental pollution, waste management, and alternative fuel supply.

Initiatives

CMA has teamed up with Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) a group of 24 major cement producers across the globe to incorporate the guidelines, protocols and best practices to work towards the sustainability agenda.

CMA has also collaborated with SINTEF an independent research organization. In the last 6 years they both have worked together on the concept of co-processing of alternative fuel, sustainable waste management, resource conservation and reduction of greenhouse emission. There are several demonstration projects are launched under the agreement to reduce water and air pollution happening due to hazardous chemicals like leachates and methane emissions. The main objective of these projects is to utilize refused to derive fuel from municipal solid waste to increase the thermal substitution rate.

Members of CMA

CMA has several top cement manufacturing companies as its members to work towards the agenda of sustainability and work on the concept of the green cement company. The list of top cement companies are as follows: