The Scottish Government offered the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) £350,000 in 2007-08 for a recycled and secondary aggregates project. WRAP ran a construction programme, continuing to address the barriers to greater use of recycled and secondary aggregates and, more broadly, promoting the more sustainable use of materials by the construction industry.
The 2007-08 construction programme attracted a total of 8 applications of varying types. Of five preferred bids, two from the same company were withdrawn as a result in a change of the company's position. WRAP supported the project which delivered best value for money.
The company concerned, based in Inverness, installed a state-of-the-art aggregates washing plant and began producing high quality recycled aggregates. The plant was the first of its type in this area. The plant provided an additional 100,000 tonnes of processing capacity and over the 5 years of its contractual commitment was expected to divert a total of 333,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.
15 projects previously supported under earlier phases of the aggregates programme continued to be monitored. One or two sites had some problems in achieving their contractual tonnages but proactively sought solutions to bring the projects back in line with their contracted obligation and, working with the project monitors, were expected to achieve their objectives.
Six research projects seeking to address and help overcome the barriers preventing the greater use of recycled secondary aggregates and alternate construction techniques to minimise the use of primary aggregates were completed with reports prepared for WRAP's website. These covered:
- Increasing the use of recycled aggregates in foamed concrete;
- Performance tests for hydraulically bound materials;
- Facilitating the wider use of recycled aggregates from washing plants;
- Investigation into testing requirements for recycled and secondary aggregates;
- Trench reinstatement using recycled aggregates; and
- Geotechnical techniques in construction.
Of these six projects those facilitating the wider use of recycled aggregates and testing requirements for recycled and secondary aggregates were completed by the University of Dundee. EnviroCentre Ltd based in Glasgow carried out the work on geotechnical techniques in construction.
Further information on WRAP aggregates work: www.wrap.org.uk