OCCURRENCE AND UTILISATION OF MINERAL CONSTRUCTION WASTES. FINAL REPORT

This report presents the results of a study undertaken for the Department of the Environment as part of the minerals planning research programme, by Arup Economics and Planning, with three main aims: to provide a thorough account of the current quantities and uses of secondary aggregates and recycled/re-used construction materials, such as ash, slag and demolition waste materials; to evaluate the relative costs of utilizing such materials against the cost of the supply of primary aggregate alternatives; and to assess the economic and physical constraints to the greater utilisation of these materials and to identify ways in which such constraints could be overcome. The empirical research involved the identification of all the principal locations and quantities of mineral and construction wastes, both the existing stockpiles and the flows from existing industrial or construction processes. The present scale of the re- use/recycling of these materials in the building and construction industries was also assessed. Included within this first part of the research was identification of the properties of these secondary and recycled construction materials and the physical and chemical constraints which operate on their further utilisation by the building and construction industries. There followed a number of detailed case studies of individual mineral and construction wastes, involving consideration in greater detail of the economic and institutional constraints that operate on further exploitation of these materials. As a result of these studies it was possible to identify actions that could be taken to increase the utilisation of secondary and recycled construction materials in Britain, calling on lessons learned from overseas experience particularly in Europe and the USA.