MEMBERS OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FORUM OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF LUKAVAC VISITED THE LUKAVAC CEMENT FACTORY
Last week, members of the Presidency of the Environmental Protection Forum of the Municipality of Lukavac visited the Lukavac Cement Factory and discussed the use of alternative fuels in its plants and other environmental issues. The meeting initiated by the management of the Lukavac Cement was held with the aim of further clarifying, but also showing on the spot how to use fuel from waste.
Recently, there have been raised certain suspicions, by environmental associations and citizens in the area of the Municipality of Lukavac, that the Lukavac Cement plant disposes the waste of dubious quality and that the use of this type of fuel poses a danger to people and the environment. This was the cause to send the invitation for and organize this visit to the Lukavac Cement Factory.
Stjepan Kumrić, General Manager, explained to the representatives of the Environmental Protection Forum of the Municipality of Lukavac that all business and production activities are carried out exclusively in accordance with the applicable legislation and added:
“Currently, the most modern technology is installed in the plants of our factory, and the use of alternative fuels is strictly defined in accordance with our valid Environmental Permit, which provisions we must strictly adhere to. We are constantly working to explain all the advantages of their use, because we want to have a modern industry that employs a large number of workers. It is our responsibility to monitor and apply trends in this industry to preserve the health of people and the environment. The cement factory has existed in Lukavac for more than 45 years, huge investments have been made in the last 20 years and today our factory is certainly one of the most modern cement plants in Europe. We need to be aware that the timing of the use of oil and other fossil fuels is running out if we want to stop climate change and the warming of our planet. It is necessary to introduce new alternative energy sources, and we have been pioneering this in BiH for several years. We use certain, strictly controlled types of waste as energy for our plants, in accordance with the EU guidelines and directives. And we have succeeded, we are saving fossil fuels and constantly working on the implementation of measures to reduce CO₂ emissions, which is the plan until 2030, both in Europe and around the world.”
During the meeting, the representatives of the Forum openly and concretely presented their views, which were constructively discussed. The joint conclusions were unanimously adopted, which aim to ensure transparent mutual cooperation and guarantee security for all citizens in the area of Lukavac. Therefore, the Lukavac Cement Factory will provide data on continuous emission measurements, which are regularly submitted to the relevant institutions, to the Forum as well, while data on daily emissions will be available to citizens on the display in front of the factory.
The initiative of the Forum to create a register of pollutants in Lukavac and its area was also accepted, with the Lukavac Cement Factory providing its professional and financial assistance.
Afterwards, the guests had the opportunity to visit the plant’s facilities and see which alternative fuels are used and how. In addition, they checked out how all the prescribed environmental standards are applied.
The Lukavac Cement Factory highlighted that the doors of the factory are always open to all citizens, associations and others interested. There is also ongoing project “VISIT US” for a long time, and all appointments for visits with mandatory compliance to prescribed epidemiological measures can be scheduled on website www.lukavaccement.ba.
