The cement industry recognises the impact a large manufacturing facility can have on a local community and the need for open communications between all stakeholders.

Improved process technology has significantly reduced emissions from cement manufacturing. This investment in new technology and environmental monitoring, combined with active community participation, are essential to building relationships.

CIF members have regular contact with their communities through public forums such as meetings, open days and newsletters. Furthermore there is voluntary and mandatory public reporting through government environmental programs.
Receiving and investigating a community report on impacts is important for any site in its effort to construct an open and transparent relationship with its community.

Environmental improvement plans registered by state environmental authorities offer opportunities for interested stakeholders to participate and monitor site improvements.

Community relations are also a high priority for the CIF’s Sustainable Development Taskforce. The taskforce shares information so that member companies can learn from each other and continually build better relations with local communities.
The industry also looks for opportunities to celebrate events with the community by supporting local initiatives and celebrating its own milestones. All manufacturing sites are part of their local community and many employees of the cement industry are themselves concerned local residents.

Examples of community projects

Conservation projects include:

• Preservation and restoration of a traditional resting place of the local Watherong people in Waurn Ponds, VIC
• Agricultural education project, Gladstone, QLD
• Sponsorship of Conservation Volunteers Australia and support of the Bushcare Group at Berrima, NSW

Revegetation projects include:

• Rehabilitation of Darra cement works site to build the community Riverside Park in Brisbane, QLD
• Funding world first research in deep water seagrass rehabilitation at Cockburn Sound, WA
• Seed collection for propagation in other local areas from remnant vegetation located in a quarry. Angaston, SA

Assistance to non profit organisations:

• Providing equipment for Little Athletics Devonport, TAS
• Sponsorship of local charities as employee safety incentives during annual plant maintenance weeks, Adelaide, SA
• Sponsorship of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, NSW
• Indigenous employment initiative to identify opportunities for local people in Maldon, NSW
• National Youth Science Forum – Bronze Sponsor and Industry Partner since 2002, Canberra, ACT

In 2002, Adelaide Brighton’s Munster plant community consultation program was broadened and upgraded as a stakeholder reference group. It included representatives from state and local government as well as local residents and interest groups from outside the surrounding area.

• The stakeholder reference group meets regularly, with an independent chairperson and a community working group charter.
• The Department of Environment has accepted the reference group as able to review the company’s environmental licence performance. Three licence renewals have now been agreed upon by all stakeholders.
• Most importantly a greater openness and transparency exists in communication between the company and the community.

Rehabilitation of the old Kandos Shale Mine

Cement Australia

Once described as a terrible eyesore, Cement Australia and the local community worked to transform the disused Kandos Shale Mine into a conservation site that now supports several thousand young plants and trees. The rehabilitation project required the sorting of mine debris, installation of drainage systems, levelling out and stabilisation of unstable and steep surfaces, and with assistance from 300 local schoolchildren, the planting of trees.

To minimise waste, Cement Australia used much of the former mine’s refuse in the rehabilitation and beautification process. During the mine’s glory days, little consideration was given to the concept of rehabilitation so what was essentially a mined and forgotten site has been reborn as a place for nature conservation. The project also fostered a greater relationship between Cement Australia and the Kandos–Rylstone community.