O.C.O Technology’s David Olley, Aggregates Sales and Development Manager, and James Ng, APCr Contracts Manager, will be talking about the benefits of carbon negative aggregates at next week’s New Horizons – Building the Recovery online conference.

Organised by the QMJ Group, which also runs Quarry Management magazine, the Agg-Net portal and the Hillhead exhibition, the event is designed to give delegates a better understanding of the climate-related issues and challenges facing the industry, while also looking the latest innovations to help achieve a sustainable future.

The O.C.O team will be presenting on Tuesday (30 March) during the Decarbonization stream of the conference. Their session begins at 10.15am, with a video presentation followed by a Q&A session hosted by broadcaster Susannah Streeter.

David said: “This is the perfect opportunity to explain the science behind carbon capture, the work that goes into producing our carbon negative Manufactured Limestone (M-LS) and the benefits of using sustainable construction materials.

“As the drive towards improving green credentials within the building sector gathers pace, it is really important that products like these become the specifiers’ preferred choice. This aggregate works the same way as virgin materials, it is fully certified and accredited and, above all, it provides permanent carbon capture while also reducing the need to quarry more natural aggregates.”

In 2020, O.C.O produced over 310,000 tonnes of carbon negative aggregate from its three UK operations in Leeds, Avonmouth and Suffolk, and that figure is expected to grow considerably as the aggregate gains a stronger foothold within the construction sector. 

O.C.O was the first company to commercialise the manufacture of carbon negative aggregate on a commercial scale, using its Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) process to treat Air Pollution Control residues (APCr) from the Energy from Waste (EfW) sector with waste carbon dioxide gas, to enable the permanent capture of significant amounts of CO2.

In 2011, the UK’s Environment Agency granted the product End of Waste (EoW) approval. It was the first time any company in Europe had achieved such an accolade for an APCr waste stream and secured the aggregate’s position as a perfect example of the circular economy in action.

For more details of the conference, which is free to register, please visit https://www.hillhead.com/digital/conference