WRAP Allocating Funding for C&D Materials

The Waste & Resources Action Programme has kicked off a new capital support competition to encourage the increased recovery and recycling of construction and demolition materials.

The aim of the Construction Waste Recycling Infrastructure Capital Support Programme is to stimulate a step change in the collection, segregation, recovery and recycling rates of materials and, in particular, non-aggregate materials, arising from construction and demolition sites in the UK.

Mervyn Jones, WRAP’s Programme Manager for Construction Waste Minimisation and Management, explains: "Around 30 million metric tons of construction waste goes to landfill each year and contractors are being encouraged to reduce waste and be more resource efficient. This capital competition will help waste management contractors to provide the infrastructure and facilities to allow substantially more recycling of C&D waste that results in less disposed to landfill."

One barrier to improving recycling rates is the sheer range of materials that construction and demolition activities generate. Mixed C&D waste typically includes waste materials such as timber, plastics, glass, plasterboard, packaging waste materials like card, wood and plastic film and inert materials such as soil, masonry, brick & block, paving, tiles and ceramics.

"WRAP wants to support the development of innovative solutions for efficient collection, segregation and processing infrastructure for both site-segregated and mixed C&D waste from UK construction sites," says Michelle O’Riley, WRAP Capital Grants Manager. "This funding competition aims to stimulate investment in facilities that will greatly improve the recovery and recycling of C&D waste materials."

The aggregates fraction of material arising from C&D sites is increasingly being collected and recycled, but the majority of the non-aggregate fractions are currently being disposed of to landfill. This competition will therefore focus on applications that propose better collection, segregation and processing facilities for the non-aggregates materials from the C&D waste stream.

The Construction Waste Recycling Infrastructure Capital Support Programme is open to all businesses, from SMEs to multi-nationals, involved in recovering and reprocessing UK construction, demolition and excavation waste. The program will provide up to 30 percent of the eligible capital costs of a project, such as plant (fixed or mobile), equipment, land and infrastructure (e.g. buildings, storage bays, access roads). Operating costs are not eligible.

The aim of this capital program is to provide financial support for projects that will create new innovative solutions to increase the quantity of C&D waste materials that are recovered and recycled through:

* create innovative designs for new or existing collection infrastructure for site segregated or mixed construction & demolition (C&D) wastes that will significantly improve output quality and recycling rates and/or;

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* create innovative design for new or existing processing / recycling leading to a higher output quality and recycling rates for C&D wastes.

WRAP will be running a series of seminars during October at which interested parties can learn more about the Construction Waste Recycling Infrastructure Capital Support Programme. Dates and venues, together with full eligibility criteria, are available on WRAP’s website at www.wrap.org.uk. Closing date for entries is 12 noon, 27 November 2006.