“Significant” rise in councils using recycled aggregates

The organisation said that this time last year, only around 10% of councils required the use of recycled building products in their highways programmes, while around half did not even allow the use of recycled aggregates.

WRAP is persuading councils that recycled materials can now be used in road-building projects

But speaking to letsrecycle.com today, WRAP aggregates project manager Phil Wilson said the amount of councils using recycled aggregates had grown “significantly” over the last 12 months.

WRAP has just published “Recycled Roads” – a new step-by-step guide for local authorities to increase their use of recycled materials in highway construction projects.

Mr Wilson explained that government procurement guidelines for local authorities now require councils to use more recycled products in their construction programmes.

However, he said there was more work to be done in raising awareness among council officers that recycled aggregates now meet quality standards that a comparable to those in products made from virgin material.

This work has been assisted by WRAP's quality protocol developed to give buyers confidence in the standards of the recycled aggregates they buy, he added.

Perception
Mr Wilson said: “There has been a significant increase in the number of councils using recycled aggregates, but it's an evolving status. We are having to raise awareness amongst councils, and it's also about challenging the perception of buyers, because actually recycled aggregates do now meet their specifications.”

Developed after a series of “Recycled Roads” workshops, WRAP's new guide outlines three phases of the procurement process where local authorities can encourage the use of recycled materials. It provides information including case studies on the pre-planning stage of projects, the planning and tender specification stage and the construction stage itself.

“The aim is to provide senior officers, highway budget-holders, procurement officers and highway engineers within local authorities, as well as their consultants and contractors, with practical advice on how to use the procurement process to maximise the use of recycled material in highways contracts,” Mr Wilson explained.

WRAP's recycled aggregates programme is funded through the Aggregates Levy, the tax on quarrying virgin aggregates. The programme has the aim of boosting the use of recycled aggregates by three million tonnes by the end of this month (March 2006).