Trials target agriculture as market for waste plasterboard

Consultants at the Dairy Group will use 69,000 towards a trial turning plasterboard into animal bedding, while farm management company Velcourt Ltd has received 53,000 to trial gypsum recovered from waste plasterboard as a soil conditioner.

Waste plasterboard, made from the mineral gypsum, could be used in various agricultural applications, WRAP believes

The two projects from part of WRAP's programme to broaden the range of potential end-uses for recycled plasterboard as a means of stimulating market demand.

Bedding
The Dairy Group is to use its grant to develop and evaluate the potential of using a bedding material made from recycled plasterboard for dairy cattle.

Three areas will be investigated by the trial – investigating farmers' attitudes towards the use of recycled plasterboard as a bedding material, on-farm trials and evaluation of the suitability of the material as bedding and an evaluation of the potential financial benefits of using recycled plasterboard.

According to WRAP inorganic materials, such as recycled plasterboard, have a great potential as a bedding material for dairy cows as they restrict bacterial growth and promote udder health.

The UK dairy industry uses around 9,200 tonnes of bedding every day, WRAP has estimated that if 5% of dairy farmers adopted recycled plasterboard bedding around 80,000 tonnes could be diverted from landfill.

The trial is set to run until October 2006.

Soil conditioner
Velcourt Ltd will be attempting to demonstrate that recycled gypsum from waste plasterboard can be effective soil conditioner on commercial farms.

Applying gypsum to heavy soils has been found to improve soil structure, but the high price of virgin mineral gypsum has deterred many farmers from its use.

WRAP has claimed that there is no fundamental difference between mineral gypsum and the recycled alternative, but it can be obtained at a much lower cost. The trial will aim to prove that the benefits provided are at least the equivalent to virgin material.

Velcourt will be running two trials, one between February and November 2006 and one between September 2006 and August 2007.

Dave Marsh, materials project officer for plasterboard at WRAP, said: “We are very pleased to announce these trials in applications which will not only provide benefits to farmers but also divert significant quantities of plasterboard waste from being disposed of to landfill. We will be working with The Dairy Group and Velcourt to promote these applications to farmers and provide guidance in their use.”