The Future is Pink
Ecoment GmbH - the world's first supplier of CO2-free cement
It’s no coincidence that Ecoment GmbH’s Managing Director had his new articulated tipper and Schmitz Cargobull trailer painted in this eye-catching colour. The upper parts of the tractor unit and tipper trailer stand out in Heather Violet (RAL 4003), while the lower structures feature a distinctive lime green colour.
This look is part and parcel of Ecoment’s business. The start-up has already garnered both attention and awards. After all, Ecoment is the world’s first company to offer carbon-neutrally produced cement, which is made at its site in the Lochau district of Schkopau in Saxony. For its work, it was awarded the 2024 Aura prize by Saxony-Anhalt’s State Ministry for the Environment in recognition of the company’s innovation and contribution to climate change mitigation. The cement plant has been successfully producing alternative CO2-free binding agents and the cement replacement Ecoment Pur for the construction industry since late 2021. The plant currently has a capacity of around 150,000 tonnes per year, which makes the factory one of Germany’s smallest cement producers, as Schüring is keen to emphasise.
To produce the cement, the 54-year-old needs an array of different waste products from power plants, steel works and foundries. Though these products would normally end up in landfill, Schüring uses them as raw materials. Most of the material is transported to Lochau by rail. Only really coarse materials, such as slag, ash or limestone, are transported to the plant by road. The Saxon businessman has recently taken delivery of a new tipper vehicle for this transport process.
It’s not just the colour scheme that is unique; the trailer technology is also special, too. After all, the colourful truck has to haul countless tonnes of raw material from up to 400 kilometres away. While lots of the raw materials come from the nearby power plant in Schkopau, his tipper truck driver also has to travel to Halle-Leipzig, Berlin, Hannover, Kassel or the Ruhr region in Western Germany – depending on the amount and quality of material available – to collect pozzolanic materials to be brought back to the plant.
Given these long-haul trips and with annual mileage of 100,000 kilometres, a high payload is key when it comes to achieving economic efficiency. This is one of the reasons why Schüring opted for an Extra-Light version of the Schmitz Cargobull S.KI. Equipped with an aluminium box body, aluminium air reservoir, Schmitz Cargobull axles with disc brakes and alu-minium wheels, the vehicle weighs as little as 4.9 tonnes when empty, guaranteeing a high payload capacity. However, despite the trimmed-down trailer, the driver does not have to forego any comfort or safety. The trailer comes with a working platform with steps and a ladder, plus an external tailgate, a folding underride guard, LED reversing lights and a tarpaulin frame with rolling tarpaulins.
At present, Ecoment deploys two articulated vehicles: one Mercedes Arocs with an S.KI tipper trailer from Schmitz Cargobull and one Mercedes Arocs with a Feldbinder silo trailer. While one truck collects the raw materials needed to produce the carbon-free cement, the other delivers the finished products, like Ecoment Pur or various binding agents, to the company’s customers. Concrete manufacturers such as GP Papenburg, Ehl, Gala-Lusit and other big names in the industry are among the company’s well-known customers in Germany.
As the inventor and patent holder, Schüring’s goal over the medium term is to scale up production of CO2-free cement. He is even considering new locations in the Ruhr region, as well as in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland. Until the time comes for expansion, production is due to be ramped up at the current site. This will mean that the father of three will have to significantly expand his fleet of factory vehicles. Additional tipper trailers and silo tanks are set to join his fleet by no later than spring 2026. However, Schüring – who is a trained vehicle mechanic, materials tester and concrete engineer – has stated that he cannot completely rule out the use of external transport providers. But whatever the case, the Saxon inventor wants to get more Heather-Violet-coloured tipper trucks onto the road and, as a result, get them advertising his climate-friendly cement products for the construction sector. His future is pink.