Run by the Wales Environment Trust, it will identify markets for recycled construction materials and work towards recycled aggregates becoming the preferred option to virgin materials.
” To ensure that aggregate demands are met, it is essential that natural resources are supplemented with recycled and secondary aggregates.“
– Carywn Jones
The 363,106 project, “Developing Markets for Recycled and Secondary Aggregates”, should also help the building industry identify and use recycling facilities for their waste, rather than sending it to landfill.
The funding of 306,106 over four years comes from the Welsh Assembly Government's Aggregates Levy Fund.
The Welsh Assembly's minister for environment, planning and countryside, Carwyn Jones announced the funding at an event in the National Assembly for Wales building in Cardiff Bay today.
Mr Jones said: “It is essential to the economic and social well being of Wales that the construction industry is provided with an adequate supply of the materials it needs; however, this should not be to the detriment of the environment.
Focussed
The minister said recycled aggregate has been widely used for at least 10 years in the London area, where the high costs of importing stone has “focussed both suppliers and uses of the need to use recycled aggregates”.
He explained: “To ensure that aggregate demands are met, it is essential that natural resources are supplemented with recycled and secondary aggregates. Wales has a ready supply of virgin material available. These aggregates are much cheaper than those in the South East of England, where demand outstrips the available supplies. This has made Wales an area where recycling has not been essential from a financial perspective.”
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Major contracts, such as the widening of the M25 and extensions at Heathrow Airport, use recycled materials, Mr Jones said, adding: “We must, for the benefit of our environment, build upon the experience of these well established practices.”
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