" Part of our work is to set out an agreed standard for the treating and handling of a type of waste. If these are followed by the businesses that produce or reprocess the waste it gets rid of the "waste" tag, making the waste derived products more marketable and attractive to buyers"
Martin Brocklehurst, Head of External Programmes for the Environment Agency
The Environment Agency and WRAP have announced the waste streams that will be included in the second year of the Waste Protocols Project following a successful first year. The project is a partnership between the two organisations and industry.
The plan is to reduce red tape and make it easier to turn millions of tonnes of common types of industrial and commercial waste, such as steel slag and old plasterboard, into useable new materials.
Five waste streams have been selected to be the focus for the second year of the Waste Protocols project these being:
- Steel slag from steel manufacture
- reused in construction and building materials and as an agricultural fertiliser.
- Gypsum from waste plasterboard
- used to make new plasterboard and in cement products.
- Incinerator bottom ash
- composed of glass, porcelain, brick, gravel, sand, slag and ash from household waste that is burnt in incinerators, and can be used as aggregate in construction materials.
- Paper mill ash
- produced when sludge from paper making is burnt for energy recovery. The ash can be used as an aggregate.
- uncontaminated top soil
- from greenfields and development sites. Topsoil can be reused on a wide range of horticultural and leisure sites such as parks, golf courses and football pitches.
By helping businesses and companies sell on their waste products, the Waste Protocols Project will cut down the tonnes of waste sent to landfill each year and associated green house gas emissions, whilst also reducing their costs. Waste such as gypsum found in old plasterboard can create other environmental problems, in particular odour problems, when deposited in a landfill.
Funding for the project comes through Defra's Business Resource and Efficiency Programme (BREW).
In addition, the Project will also work on the preparation of a standard to cover anaerobic digestate, which is produced from a wide range of source segregated organic substances such as food waste. Anaerobic digestate can be used as a replacement fertiliser. Anaerobic digestion was recently given a boost in the new draft of the Non Fossil Fuels Obligation (NFFO) in which the process gets favoured status and also from a recent WRAP report on biowastes which suggested that the process was financially viable where food waste was separately collected.
First year project achievements
Ten different wastes were the focus of the first year of the project. Work is on-going but the waste streams included:
Flat glass
- from windows and windscreens which can be recycled into items such as new flat glass, filtration media, and an additive which makes paint reflective.
Rubber crumb and shred from old tyres
- which can be used on golf courses and other sport pitches as well as asphalt surfaces.
Plastics from construction and demolition projects such as PVC window frames and plastic gutters
- which can be recycled into an incredible range of products from pallets to bin bags.
Comments
Martin Brocklehurst, Head of External Programmes for the Environment Agency said:
"The Waste Protocols Project will look at the current environmental risk posed by the five type of waste chosen today and wherever possible remove the need for companies to hold the permits and licences that they need.
"Part of our work is to set out an agreed standard for the treating and handling of a type of waste. If these are followed by the businesses that produce or reprocess the waste it gets rid of the "waste" tag, making the waste derived products more marketable and attractive to buyers."
WRAP’s Director of Organics Dr Richard Swannell commented:
"Earlier this year we produced the first Quality Protocol, for compost which allowed producers to create a type of compost which is no longer classed as a waste, making it a more attractive product to those who buy it."
"This first protocol is testament to what is achievable through the collaborative working approach shown by the Environment Agency, WRAP business and industry. The five wastes we have announced today will go some way in helping reduce the amount of waste disposed in landfills every year as well as helping to create valuable products."