The cement industry has been using waste as a raw material for many years. Waste is also used as alternative fuel. Cement plants are an important element of the waste management system and fit the idea of a circular economy. When waste is recovered in the cement production process, direct and indirect CO ₂ emissions are partially avoided. This article discusses the cement industry in Poland. The current situation in terms of the use of alternative fuels and raw materials in Poland, the different types of waste and the amount of waste used is discussed. The article discusses changes in the amount of waste (the increase in the amount of waste used as raw materials from the year 2006 to the year 2019) and the types of waste recovered in the cement production process and the possibility of closing material cycles on the plant scale (recycling to the primary process – cement kiln dust) and industry (using waste from other industries: metallurgy – granulated blast furnace slag, iron bearings; energy production – fly ash, reagypsum/phosphogypsum, fluidized bed combustion fly ash, and fluidized bed combustion bottom ash; wastewater treatment plants – sewage sludge, etc.). The analysis shows that the role of cement plants in waste management and the circular economy in Poland is important. Industrial waste from metallurgy, power plants, heat and power plants, wastewater treatment plants, and municipal waste is used as the raw material for the cement industry, leading to an industrial symbiosis.