2 May 2006

Aggregates industry launches first sustainable development report

The Quarry Products Association, which represents over 90% of the aggregates industry, has launched its first sustainable development report, a document that forms a baseline by which the industry's future performance will be assessed. The report, which features performance data from 2004, represents over a thousand separate site locations* accounting for aggregates that amount to 64% of total UK sales. The QPA is looking to build from this solid first response rate for future reports to make the annually-released document one of most representative of its type across British industry.

The QPA's approach to sustainability was to develop a series of indicators, the data for which the association will track each year. These indicators covered quarrying's social responsibilities, such as health and safety, competency and community relations; environmental protection, including restoration and biodiversity; the conservation of natural resources and an examination of how the industry contributes to the country's economy.

Headlines from the data collected in 2004 include the widely reported 73% reduction in reportable incidents through the QPA's health and safety hard target. Recycled materials and secondary aggregates increased to 67,000,000 tonnes in Britain in 2004, equivalent to 24 per cent of the total aggregates market. The report shows that both the market share and the absolute supply of recycled materials and secondary aggregates have doubled over the past 15 years. Direct employment in the aggregates and quarry products industries in Britain was 38,000 with a total figure attributable to the industry, including indirect employment, estimated at 88,000. Total energy use recorded on QPA members' sites for which information was received (excluding delivery transport) was equivalent to 9.98kg of CO2 per tonne of output which, when extrapolated to the whole of the sector, produces CO2 emissions equivalent to 0.6% of the UK total. The industry is also pushing forward its efforts in restoration with the 868 ha of restored land recorded in 2004 measuring twice that of land prepared for new extraction.

The Sustainable Development Report is currently being distributed throughout the industry and to key stakeholders. The QPA's director general Simon van der Byl believes it is a landmark for the association. "Our relationships with our stakeholders are essential to the future of our sector in the same way that our products are essential to society," he says. "This document is a transparent account of how this industry operates in the social, environmental and economic spheres. We appreciate that this first report does not yet provide a complete sustainability picture and we have acknowledged in the document areas where further information may be required. However, this report is a major step forward in improving understanding of the sustainability of the sector and we will be talking to industry and our stakeholders to help develop it further."

Link to the report online here.

ENDS

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