Concrete is the second most used material on earth, behind only water. Cement is the binding agent used in concrete, and its production is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions. Cambridge Electric Cement (CEC) has developed a technology for recycling cement from demolition waste making zero carbon cement a possibility.
In July 2024, CEC raised £2.25m pre-seed funding round to industrialise low carbon, circular cement production, having demonstrated that recovered cement is a viable substitute for the flux used in the electric arc furnaces for steelmaking. The steelmaking process is completely unaffected and virgin cement is produced.