During the 2008/2009 school year, Buzzi Unicem decided to play a part in the schools of Casale Monferrato (Alessandria) with a pilot project that involved studying the chemistry of cement. This experimental educational project took place at the Alighieri-Trevigi middle school and the Balbo high school (fourth year junior grade).
During the first week of December 2008, the staff responsible for the project presented the proposal to the students with an introductory lecture that was quite theoretical in nature: cement and its production cycle, ranging from the extraction of the raw materials to the sale of the finished product; concrete and its uses. The main focus was on all the chemical processes involved in hydrating the cement plus the quality controls performed up until the product is used.
In March 2009, about 30 students from the third year of the middle schools attended a workshop at the participating schools, learning several basic elements of the chemistry of cement. The middle school children determined the difference between mixture and solution, experimenting with the various separation techniques such as filtration, evaporation and precipitation; they determined the pH of various solutions using liquid and universal indicators; they studied the differences between silicaceous and calcareous aggregates, including both the superficial and chemical aspects; lastly, they evaluated the hardness index of several materials such as clinker, limestone and gypsum.
The workshop for the high school students was rather more in-depth, with the students performing the experiments by themselves. They conducted tests to determine sulfates in solution by precipitating barium sulfate, and performed qualitative and quantitative analyses by UV/VIS to detect the chromium in cement eluates reduced with stannous sulfate and without.
The project concluded in May 2009 with a trip to the Trino (Vercelli) plant, where the students were able to see for themselves the cement grinding, quality control and concrete preparation  processes plus a few more experiments in the analysis laboratory.

The Province of Cuneo won the "Premio Sfide 2009" (Challenge Award 2009), a contest reserved for public bodies, by collaborating synergistically with the Robilante cement plant to manage its waste.
Attended by the Minister of the Environment Stefania Prestigiacomo, the awards ceremony was held in Rome on 11 May during the FORUM PA, an exhibition and convention showcasing innovation in the public sector. The contest is an initiative sponsored by the Department for the Regional Economies Developmet of the Ministers Council Presidency to identify exceptionally innovative projects undertaken by public authorities (PA). The purpose is to create a public authority that can achieve effective, efficient and measurable results in which everyone participates.
There were 91 participants with 16 winners, among which was the Province of Cuneo with its project “Managing and turning waste into energy at the cement plant”. Not being able to afford its own waste-to-energy plant, the Province of Cuneo used the kilns at the Robilante cement plant to burn 42,000 tons of waste-derived fuel instead of coal, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by over 80,000 tons during 2007-2008.

On April 28th, the Sustainability Report has been presented to the shareholders meeting. It reports on social, economical and environmentals performances of the group's activities during 2008, in line with the consolidated approach of the last few years. The structure and the contents are based on the rationale of the continuous improvement.
The actions taken during 2008 on methodology has brought us to reach the maximum level of application A+ according to GRI (global reporting initiative). This result has to be considerd as a tangible recognition to the committment to reduce company's environmental impact and improve stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, the timeliness of pubblication and a common comunication concept with the Annual Report proves how much sustainability has become a material issue for the company. The Report has been translated in three languages: Italian, English and German.