Banbury, England: Around 54,000 tonnes of plasterboard waste from the construction industry was recycled back into new plasterboard during the year Apr 2007 to Mar 2008. The figures look good for manufacturers as well - they have reduced the waste sent to landfill from their production operations to only 6,000 tonnes.
The manufacturers' tonnage to landfill comes well within the landfill disposal target for 2010 of 10,000 tonnes, effectively in year one. The target quantity has therefore been reduced from 10,000 to 7,500 tonnes per year by 2010. Continuing to meet this revised annual target will be challenging but achievable according to the manufacturers.
Welcoming the significant progress, GPDA General Secretary Crispin Dunn-Meynell says hitting one of the 2010 targets in the first year is an important achievement, though he warned that continued improvement remains a challenge.
This good progress has come in the first year of the industry’s voluntary Ashdown Agreement according to WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) in a new report released today.
Plasterboard waste (Photo: WRAP)
The Ashdown Agreement
The Ashdown Agreement was signed in March 2007 between the Gypsum Products Development Association (GPDA) representing the UK plasterboard manufacturers, and WRAP. The Agreement set "challenging and quantifiable targets", these being to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill from manufacturing operations in Great Britain to 10,000 tonnes per year by 2010, and to increase the take back and recycling of plasterboard waste, for use in plasterboard manufacture, to 50% of new construction waste arisings by 2010.
Current estimates of construction waste suggest that around 300,000 tonnes arise annually. Construction waste is particularly difficult to quantify.
The agreement also requires both manufacturers and the construction sector to move towards reducing plasterboard waste going to landfill, with the ultimate long-term objective of zero plasterboard waste to landfill.
Dave Marsh, Construction Project Manager at WRAP estimates that of the 2.5 million tonnes of plasterboard used in construction in 2006, approximately 300,000 tonnes of new plasterboard waste was generated, highlighting the necessity of this agreement and its continued success. He said:
“We are delighted with the progress that has been made in the first year of the Ashdown Agreement and the challenge now is to maintain this momentum.
“By increasing their recycling of waste plasterboard the manufacturers are not only helping the construction sector to be more resource efficient and realise cost benefits, but also supporting it in achieving the target of halving waste to landfill by 2012 – a key target of the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Construction.”
Further information
The annual report of the Ashdown Agreement is available from www.wrap.org.uk/ashdown .
WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change.
Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found on www.wrap.org.uk .
The GPDA (Gypsum Products Development Association) is the trade association representing manufacturers of gypsum products, whose members operate all the production sites in Great Britain. It represents Knauf Drywall, British Gypsum and Lafarge Plasterboard. The primary function of the GPDA is to develop and encourage the understanding of gypsum-based building products and systems and to pioneer new applications for these products. It also has an on-going commitment to advise on matters of environmental impact, energy conservation and health and safety, wherever gypsum-based products are used.