The Quarry Products Association has taken the lead in developing a sustainable development strategy for the aggregates and quarry products sector as a whole. You can download a copy here: QPA sustainable development strategy March 2005

One of our first steps in the process was an analysis of the industry issues as they relate to the four main objectives of the UK Strategy for Sustainable Development published in 1999:

• Social progress which recognises the needs of everyone
• Effective protection of the environment
• Prudent use of natural resources
• Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth.

We went on to re-define our core values against the same objectives and have used them in selecting the key performance indicators from which we are now measuring progress.

Our sustainable development strategy also includes the various product-specific organisations that make up the QPA. The British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA), for example, has been helping its members to develop their own key performance indicators and has developed its own reporting schedule for the sector. Other groups are working with the European Commission on the evolution of a harmonised set of indicators for the European non-energy extractive industries.

We published our strategy in 2005. We then began gathering the baseline data from our members for the first full sustainable development report, which was published in the spring of 2006. From this base, we will continue to monitor and to measure progress on an annual basis. The latest report is rounds up data from 2006 bringing the industry up-to-date on its SD footprint.