WRAP Hosts Aggregates Forum

Stakeholders in the construction industry met at the annual Aggregates Forum held by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) last week, to understand the developments in the use of recycled and secondary aggregates and address the barriers to their increased use in the construction industry.

WRAP is working with these stakeholders to promote the sustainable use of resources for the production of aggregates through spreading good practice and addressing technical and legislative barriers.

WRAP briefed Forum members on the broader developments within the WRAP Construction Programme as well as the Aggregate Programme’s progress in research, the AggRegain website development and capital support.

Research projects published in 2006 and available in WRAP publications included:

• the sustainable use of resources for the production of aggregates in England; and 
• good practice guidance on the use of hydraulically bound materials (HBM) in working platforms.
• Further project reports to be published in 2007 include: 
• the development of new performance test methods for HBM mixtures; 
• the development of durability tests for HBM mixtures; 
• investigating the effects of recycled and secondary aggregates on the engineering properties of concrete; and 
• testing of concrete produced with recycled and secondary aggregates to determine the effect on ground water and the environment.

WRAP also reported on the achievements of its capital support programme. This programme provides financial assistance of up to 30% towards the capital cost of processing plants, equipment and infrastructure for projects, which would not be financially viable without this assistance.

To date, the programme has successfully supported 51 projects across England and Scotland, encouraging an additional £22m of private investment and increasing the annual processing capacity for recycled aggregates by 3.6 million tonnes. The recent focus has been on projects producing high quality and therefore high value aggregates suitable for use in added value applications such as concrete.

A new capital support programme covering England and Scotland will be launched at the end of March 2007.

WRAP’s AggRegain website (www.aggregain.org.uk) provides a wealth of information on all aspects relating to recycled and secondary aggregates in construction. Last year saw this information service expanded yet again. In the light of recent carbon neutral targets set by the government, those attending were particularly interested to hear about the CO2 emissions estimator tool enabling clients and contractors to compare the CO2 impact of different materials and construction processes. A new Opportunities section was also added providing a user-friendly model for matching materials with applications. Forum members acknowledged that the site is an invaluable resource.

John Barritt, Aggregates Technical Advisor at WRAP, commented: “These forums have taken place for five years and have always proved very popular with stakeholders in the industry. The events provide an opportunity to discuss the latest developments being made in the use of recycled and secondary aggregates, and a chance to listen to the industry’s views.”

For more information on WRAP’s Aggregates programme, or to download notes from the Aggregates Forum, visit www.wrap.org.uk/construction.