Latest figures (from 2005) show that there may be at least sixty thousand hectares of previously developed land in England alone, and regeneration of this land often requires soils for final landscaping. The Brownfield Programme is currently supporting a number of Trailblazer projects across the UK in which quality compost is being applied to brownfield land.

Rather than rely solely on natural topsoils, the Brownfield Team is working closely with soil scientists, developers and major land owners to encourage improvement of existing low quality soils with compost or to combine soil forming materials with compost to make new topsoils. Soil forming materials within the current Trailblazer programme include glacial drift (and other subsoils), colliery shales, hard rock overburden, iron and steel furnace slags, and dredgings. For further information on these Trailblazer projects, please click here.

The Brownfield Team are also working closely with the British Standards Institution in the re-drafting of the Specification for topsoil (BS3882) and associated documents, to improve uptake of recycled mineral and organic materials.

For more information, please contact:

Paul Mathers (Key Account Holder) - paul.mathers@wrap.org.uk, or
David Tompkins (Project Officer) - david.tompkins@wrap.org.uk