Building A Brighter Future For Recycled And Secondary Aggregates

By Alastair Clough, regulatory and litigation associate at DLA Piper, Sheffield

There have been moves over recent years to develop markets for, and encourage greater use of, recycled and secondary aggregates. One of the key stumbling blocks historically has been the interpretation, at both a European and a national level, of the definition of ‘waste’. Key issues include, in particular, whether a substance is a by-product or a waste, and when a waste substance which is subjected to a recovery process ceases to be a waste and, hence, waste-management controls should no longer apply to it.

For many years the rulings by the European Court of Justice and the interpretation of these by national authorities helped to create a situation whereby more things were determined to be waste and to remain as waste for longer periods. This may have discouraged developments in the use of secondary aggregates or, at best, put companies in a position where they could not be clear that they were acting within the law in this regard. If materials are classified as waste they are subject to the waste-management legal regime and all which that entails, including licensing requirements in relation to storage, treatment, use and disposal, and increased regulation in relation to the transportation of such. The increased costs and logistics of compliance along with uncertainty regarding when a product ceases to be waste could have a bearing on the commercial viability of some products, as could the perception (if not addressed) that a product derives from waste.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) was created to work in partnership with business to encourage greater efficiency in material use and to increase recycling. WRAP and the Environment Agency set up the Waste Protocols Project with the aim of producing quality protocols that would define the point at which a waste material may become a non-waste material and, therefore, be reused or supplied without the need for waste regulation controls. Aside from the quality protocols, the Environment Agency is also reviewing the position of certain materials to confirm whether they should generally be considered as waste or not.

One of the key areas of work is the WRAP Aggregates Programme, launched in 2002 and funded through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund with the main aim of encouraging greater use of recycled and secondary aggregates. Approximately 275 million tonnes of aggregates are used each year in the UK, of which around 25% are reported to be derived from recycled or secondary sources. Evidence of the wide breadth of potential uses for secondary aggregates is clear from the large number of projects undertaken to date with substances ranging from steel slag, recycled tyres, plastic and glass through to pulverized fuel ash, china clay and unburned colliery spoil.

The Quality Protocol for the Production of Aggregates from Inert Waste has been in existence for some years, having been produced by WRAP, the Quarry Products Association and the Highways Agency. Similar protocols are in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The key purpose of the protocol is to provide a process by which producers and end-users can be reasonably confident that a particular product is no longer considered a waste and is produced to standards common to both recovered and primary aggregates by ensuring that the product meets the quality and conformity requirements of the European Standards for Aggregates. Inert wastes which are specifically referred to within the protocol include glass, bricks, tiles and ceramics, concrete and soils and stones.

WRAP provides grants to companies primarily focused on helping aggregate recyclers invest in plant to produce higher-quality recycled products. To the end of 2007, over £9 million has been provided helping to create over 3 million tonnes of annual productive capacity. WRAP has recently produced guidance aimed at both SME contractors and construction clients to seek to address some misconceptions about, and encourage a greater use of, recycled and secondary aggregates. Guidance will also shortly be released to better enable purchasers to determine, and producers to demonstrate, compliance with the Quality Protocol for Aggregates.

The recent consultation on the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund demonstrates an intention to continue funding in the order of £3.25 million per annum for the next three years to provide further capital support for infrastructure developments, to deliver WRAP quality protocols for a range of secondary aggregate materials and to campaign for construction clients to set good-practice requirements to drive the recycled and secondary aggregate market.

As indicated above, the Environment Agency is reviewing the regulatory position of certain ‘products’ that have historically been considered to be wastes. For many years it has been argued in some quarters that blast-furnace slag should be considered a by-product and not a waste. The vast majority of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (ggbs) is sold to the UK concrete market, while air-cooled blast-furnace slag is crushed and screened for use as secondary aggregates. Recently, the Environment Agency has released a position statement to the effect that blast-furnace slag is a non-waste by-product, thereby removing many legislative concerns to its use as a secondary aggregate. The Environment Agency is currently considering the position in relation to pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and tyre-derived rubber materials, as well as various other substances.

It is clear that developments are being made both at the legal and regulatory level to permit more materials that may historically have been considered to be waste to be utilized, and also that there is an appetite from business to develop products for the secondary aggregates and recycled aggregates market. It is also to be expected that in the future there will be increasing demands that construction projects utilize greater proportions of recycled and secondary aggregates. Such an approach can lead to substantial benefits both financially and to the environment, including the diversion of materials from landfill and a decrease in the carbon footprint of projects. Already this is regarded as a requirement by some public and private sector clients and can be seen as such within contract specifications, award criteria and as a KPI in various projects. The UK is leading the way in Europe in the proportion of recycled and secondary aggregates it uses, and a combination of reduced regulatory burden and increased market demand could assist in driving this still further.