Rapid industrialisation has not only resulted in increased usage of natural resources but has also initiated a serious ecological and environmental imbalance due to dumping of industrial wastes. In tune with the global emphasis on waste utilisation for greener and cleaner environment .At the authors lab investigative studies were carried out on potential use of the common industrial wastes in the country in manufacture of cement and building materials.

The industrial wastes includes lime sludges from paper, fertilizer and sugar industry, Aluminous wastes from Aluminium industry, by product chemical gypsum, fluoride wastes from fluoride chemical manufacturers and Fluorspar mining wastes, fly ash from Thermal plants, L.D convertor slag from steel industry, etc.

The paper discusses the chemico-mineralogical characteristics of the industrial wastes reflecting on their potential usage in cement manufacture through illustrative case studies, indicating the benefit derived from the usage of the materials.

The authors finally conclude that waste valorization is a necessity of rapid industrilisation and that there is a need to look into the industrial concept of zero emission by converting waste to wealth.