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The new Gypsum Quality Protocol, published last week, will
raise market confidence in recycled gypsum and increase demand
for waste plasterboard.
The new directive has the potential to boost sales by an
estimated £10 million and could save industries that generate
waste plasterboard in excess of £8 million a year in disposal
costs.
Published by the Waste Protocols Project - a joint WRAP (Waste
& Resources Action Programme) and Environment
Agency initiative - the Quality Protocol for the Production
of Recycled Gypsum from Waste Plasterboard removes the
‘waste’ tag and so negates the costs associated with
waste management legislation regulating the storage and transportation
of waste gypsum.
The Quality Protocol also ensures greater market confidence
in recycled gypsum by stipulating that it is produced in accordance
with the British Standards Institution’s Publicly Available
Specification (PAS 109:2008).
Gypsum materials have been banned from non-hazardous landfill
since the introduction of the Landfill Directive. However,
until recently, the Environment Agency took the view that
mixed waste containing gypsum material of not more than 10
per cent could be disposed of in this manner. The removal
of this ‘10 per cent rule’ in April 2009 means that
producers can only send gypsum materials to mono-cell landfill.
Mervyn Jones, WRAP’s Joint Project Executive, said - “By
establishing end-of-waste criteria and assuring standards,
the Gypsum Quality Protocol makes it easier for end markets
- predominantly plasterboard and cement manufacturer and agriculture
- to use recycled gypsum.
“By increasing market confidence in recycled gypsum, generating
savings for end users and increasing the value of sales of
the product, the Quality Protocol could realise a net benefit
to industry estimated to be £38 million between now and 2020.”
Martin Brocklehurst, the Environment Agency’s Head of Environment
and Business Partnerships, said - “Diverting more waste plasterboard
away from landfill will yield considerable environmental benefits.
More than one million tonnes of waste plasterboard enters
the UK waste stream each year and this new Quality Protocol
will make it far easier to divert more of that material away
from landfill and back into the production of valuable and
useful products.
“I’m confident this newest Quality Protocol will be welcomed
by businesses operating across the recycled gypsum production
and distribution supply chain.”
For manufacturers of new plasterboard, encouraging more producers
of recycled gypsum to become Quality Protocol compliant will
also help them to continue the momentum built up while working
towards their voluntary Ashdown Agreement, which is due to
be completed in March 2010. The Agreement covers targets to
recover and recycle gypsum back into new plasterboard and
reduce waste being sent to landfill.
Recycled gypsum that is not Quality Protocol compliant will
continue to attract regulatory costs. For example, agricultural
users need to pay £546 to register for an exemption to use
recycled gypsum on their land. This exemption only allows
the material to be used on a maximum of 50 hectares of land.
To download the Quality Protocol for the production of recycled
gypsum from waste plasterboard - Click
Here
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