Living standards, welfare levels, economic competitive power, continuity of employment, and ecosystems all depend on the “common natural capital”.
OYAK Cement has obtained environment permits and licenses from the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization for all its companies in full compliance with the environmental legislation. Dust and gas emissions from the main flues of rotary kilns are monitored online by the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.
As all cement companies should, OYAK Concrete and OYKA have the Environmental Management System Certificate within the scope of TS-EN-ISO 14001, and Adana Cement was the first cement factory in Turkey to establish and have certified its Environmental Management System.
Every year, a significant amount of funding is reserved for environmental investments in the Group’s companies. Some major examples of these investments are; bag-type filter investments and other dedusting projects, closed clinker/coal stock-holes, NOx emission reduction systems, more efficient firing systems, continuous emission measurement and monitoring systems, waste water treatment plants, alternative fuel waste pretreatment and feeding systems, a waste laboratory, and production optimization systems (expert optimizers).
OYAK Cement endeavors to use the best techniques available in light of technological developments and to select systems that prevent pollution before it occurs, leading to a minimum amount of pollution, reducing pollution at source, and ensuring occupational health and safety while planning and realizing new investments.
Company activities include the environmental management systems, clean production applications, energy efficiency projects, the use of alternative energy resources, the production of blended cements with low clinker developed with alternative raw materials as a result of R&D studies, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions emitted from products and processes.
OYAK Cement plays a leading role in the regions in which it operates in order to reduce its carbon footprint by increasing the use of blended cement, and invests in renewable energy resources by developing products with a low carbon footprint in cooperation with universities.
In line with its rehabilitation projects and reclamation plans prepared for raw material quarries (mining sites), production areas where reserves are depleted are rehabilitated and the natural balance is restored.
OYAK Cement runs tree planting programs in areas where trees have been removed. In recent years, a total of 422,475 trees have been planted by Bolu Cement (230,875 trees), Mardin Cement (65,589 trees), Adana Cement (63,431 trees), Aslan Cement (39,610 trees), Ünye Cement (15,970 trees), and OYKA (7,000 trees).
As a first in Turkey, a private company named ENAT A.Ş. (Industrial Tree Agriculture) was established in 2005 with 31 partners, aimed at making an industrial effort to reforest parts of the country.
OYKA is one of the founding partners of ENAT, which was established under the leadership of TEMA (Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion). Prioritizing fast-growing species, ENAT has planted a total of 3 million saplings across a total area of 1,500 h in Karacabey District and Kedikaya and Dağesemen villages in Bursa, and in Ezine, Kızılköy and Gökçeada in Çanakkale. The ultimate target of the project is to plant 6 million saplings across an area of 4,000 hectares by 2028.
The company has so far planted 3 million saplings across a total area of 1,500 h. The ultimate target of the project is to plant 6 million saplings across an area of 4,000 hectares by 2028.
OYAK Cement Alternative Fuel and Raw Material Applications
In line with the environmental legislation and administrative regulations, OYAK Cement aims to use alternative fuels and raw materials to the maximum extent possible considering the conditions in the regions where its factories operate, and to conduct this process in a way that ensures the efficient use of natural resources.
The company is making long-term plans to use the waste from other industrial plants as an alternative fuel and raw material with a conscious approach towards environment and society, to be a solution partner in energy and material recovery, and to carry out industrial symbiosis studies, which will bring about mutual advantages. Moreover, it aims to increasingly continue its long-term activities regarding the use of urban waste managed by municipalities, and to contribute to waste disposal in cooperation with local authorities.
Accordingly, the company will use fewer fossil fuels and natural raw materials, and increase the use of alternative fuels and alternative raw materials year on year.
By recovering the heating value of the organic portion of waste deemed an alternative fuel as part of these activities,
consumption of primary fossil resources such as petroleum coke and lignite
is decreased and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. Meanwhile, by recovering the material value of the mineral portion of waste deemed an alternative raw material, consumption of natural raw material resources such as limestone, marl, clay, bauxite, and iron ore used in the production of cement is reduced.
