2023-11-16 14:16:41
Even though it is currently raining more than freezing, many communities in the province of Liège are worried as winter approaches. They wonder how they will manage to clear their roads of snow. It is not salt that is lacking for spreading, but rather slag, a product used in addition and which is particularly effective in combating snow and ice. It has the advantage of being a sort of anti-slip and does not damage the roads unlike salt.
The fault of the cement factories
Slag, which is in fact a residue from blast furnaces, and therefore from the steel industry, is highly coveted by cement factories. It makes it possible to manufacture cement in a slightly more ecological way, to limit CO2 emissions, which is not a luxury when we know that this industry is, alone, responsible for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse in Belgium.
The cement manufacturers therefore appropriate all the stocks of slag, which themselves are becoming scarce given the dismantling of a certain number of blast furnaces. As a result, the municipalities are deprived of this precious slag, which is particularly deplored by the locality of Theux, which used to place orders to spread it on its municipal roads. “Indeed, this year, suppliers are out of stock“, confirms Bruno Gavray, alderman of works, “because cement manufacturers use more of this steelmaking waste in their processes. There are therefore no longer any stocks available for municipalities and for our wholesalers. We will therefore have to adapt our mode of operation, by working more on preventive measures, given that a priori, we will only have salt to clear snow and melt ice. It will probably be necessary to make additional passages. For now, we’re still trying to test other products, we’ll see if it works or not.“.
The municipalities of Jalhay, Pepinster, Stavelot and Stoumont are facing the same problem because they used the same supplier as the municipality of Theux to purchase slag.
In Spa, the situation is even more problematic
This is also the case for the town of Spa, where the situation is even more delicate. The spreading of road salt is prohibited in a large part of the town, in order to preserve the purity of the catchment waters of the Spa Monopole company. There remains enough stock of slag for this winter, but for the following ones, the municipal authorities admit to being short of solutions.
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