Aggregates: Recycling

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to (a) encourage the use of recycled and secondary aggregates and (b) reduce the use of primary aggregates.

Mr. Iain Wright
My Department is responsible for Minerals Policy Statement 1, ‘Planning and Minerals’, which sets out the policy which mineral planning authorities have to have regard in drawing up their mineral plans. The policy statement promotes a hierarchical approach to minerals supply, aiming first to reduce as far as practicable the quantity of material used, then to use as much recycled and secondary material as possible, before finally securing the remainder of material needed from primary extraction.

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of aggregates from demolished buildings was recycled in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr. Iain Wright
In England there are three sources of supply of construction aggregates: land won sand and gravel and crushed rock; marine dredged sand and gravel; and aggregates recycled from construction, demolition and excavation waste (CDEW). Of the 202 million tonnes total consumption of aggregates in 2005 aggregates from CDEW contributed about 50 million tonnes.

In managing aggregates supply my Department collects biennially high level data of the contribution CDEW makes to national aggregates supply which is published as the ‘Survey of Arisings and Use of Alternatives to Primary Aggregates in England.’ The last survey was for 2005 and the survey report is available for download from the Department's website

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningand building/pdf/surveyconstruction2005

However we do not disaggregate the data to distinguish the amount of material arising from the demolition of buildings separately from other sources.