Plasterboard recycling making excellent progress, WRAP reveals
Excellent progress has been made by the UK plasterboard manufacturers in recycling waste plasterboard and significantly reducing the amount sent to landfill in the first year of the industry’s voluntary Ashdown Agreement, says WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) in a new report released today.
Between April 2007 and March 2008 nearly 54,000 tonnes of plasterboard waste from construction was recycled back into new plasterboard. Manufacturers have also reduced the waste sent to landfill from their production operations to only 6,000 tonnes.
The Ashdown Agreement was signed in March 2007 between the Gypsum Products Development Association (GPDA) representing the UK plasterboard manufacturers, and WRAP. The Agreement set two challenging and quantifiable targets:
- to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill from manufacturing operations in Great Britain to 10,000 tonnes per year by 2010; and
- to increase the take back and recycling of plasterboard waste, for use in plasterboard manufacture, to 50% of new construction waste arisings (currently estimated at 300,000 tonnes) by 2010.
Additionally, the Agreement called for the plasterboard manufacturers to work together with the construction sector towards reducing the amount of new plasterboard waste going to landfill. The ultimate long-term objective for WRAP and the GDPA is for zero plasterboard waste to be sent to landfill.
As a result of the landfill disposal target for 2010 being met in year one, the target to reduce the amount of manufacturing waste sent to landfill has been tightened from 10,000 to 7,500 tonnes per year by 2010. Continuing to meet this revised annual target will be challenging but achievable according to the manufacturers.
Welcoming the significant progress, GPDA General Secretary Crispin Dunn-Meynell says hitting one of the 2010 targets in the first year is an important achievement. But he warns that continued improvement remains a challenge.
Dave Marsh, Construction Project Manager at WRAP estimates that of the 2.5 million tonnes of plasterboard used in construction in 2006, approximately 300,000 tonnes of new plasterboard waste was generated, highlighting the necessity of this agreement and its continued success.
The annual report of the Ashdown Agreement is available from www.wrap.org.uk/ashdown
Editor's notes:
WRAP
WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change.
Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk
Quote from: Dave Marsh, Construction Project Manager at WRAP
“We are delighted with the progress that has been made in the first year of the Ashdown Agreement and the challenge now is to maintain this momentum.
“By increasing their recycling of waste plasterboard the manufacturers are not only helping the construction sector to be more resource efficient and realise cost benefits, but also supporting it in achieving the target of halving waste to landfill by 2012 – a key target of the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Construction.”
GPDA
The GPDA (Gypsum Products Development Association) is the trade association representing manufacturers of gypsum products, whose members operate all the production sites in Great Britain. It represents Knauf Drywall, British Gypsum and Lafarge Plasterboard. The primary function of the GPDA is to develop and encourage the understanding of gypsum-based building products and systems and to pioneer new applications for these products. It also has an on-going commitment to advise on matters of environmental impact, energy conservation and health and safety, wherever gypsum-based products are used.
Quote from: Crispin Dunn-Meynell, GPDA General Secretary:
“The next year will see a flattening of the trend for progress in waste minimisation as we tackle small waste streams and more difficult areas, but the sector will continue to work to reduce waste from original manufacture still further,” he says.
“While the quantity of plasterboard used in construction has increased, awareness of the need to reduce waste is much improved. The increase in landfill tax rates has led to a rapid rise in non-manufacturers recycling plasterboard for alternative uses – a further increase in recycling which is not reflected in the figure of 54,000 tonnes.
“The credit crunch in the US is having an increasing impact in the UK. This will inevitably put our customers under pressure to protect profits by reducing costs wherever possible. Their main priority will be eliminating waste, but where they have to dispose of waste they will do so at the lowest cost. The net effect of these factors against Ashdown targets is difficult to forecast and will need to be monitored over the next year. The manufacturers remain confident of delivering the quantitative targets for 2010 and industrial performance during 2008/09 will confirm the suitability of the existing arrangements or the possible need for any additional or alternative measures to secure success”.
WRAP Press Office
Tel: 01295 819695 / 677
press.office@wrap.org.uk
