Waste minimisation
We reduced waste to landfill by 50 per cent during the year, driven by big falls in cement, concrete and asphalt product lines and a company-wide commitment to operate efficiently and recycle or reuse as much waste as possible. We are now close to achieving our 2020 target of an 85 per cent reduction on the 2010 baseline figure, which stands at 82 per cent.
The majority of our sites are included within a single contract with Biffa a national waste management company which enables us to control the process more effectively and provide further data on the quantity and types of waste being produced. Waste bins are provided at all our sites to collect recyclables including plastic, paper and cardboard.
In 2016 we reused or recycled over 100,000 tonnes of controlled waste, some 96.5 per cent of the total generated.
Another way in which we are reducing waste is by utilising by-products from the production of aggregates which might otherwise be returned to the quarry void. Many of our quarries produce far more fine material and dust than they can sell so we are investing in washing and processing plants to create a manufactured sand for use in our concrete plants as a substitute for land-won and marine sand.
At Whatley quarry in Somerset we have installed a processing plant to produce manufactured sand which can then be transported by rail to London and south-east England where supplies of land-won sand are becoming increasingly scarce.
The waste and by-product that we use either as raw material or fuel in the manufacture of our products is 361 times more than the waste that we send to landfill.
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Waste minimisation data
Waste to landfill
2010 (baseline)
2014
2015
2016
Total tonnes
18,472
8,786
8,095 3,996
Kg/tonne product
0.54
0.23
0.20 0.10
Click here for data by business line
Data corrections for 2015 due to improvements in reporting integrity.
Error in the 2014 Hanson UK total waste to landfill has been rectified.When normalised against production changes at business line level, the 2016 performance is 0.1kg. waste /tonne against a 2010 baseline of 0.51kg waste /tonne , showing a reduction of 80.39%.
Cement specific waste – by-pass dust – tonnes
2010 (baseline)
2014
2015
2016
Produced
5,619
9,335
10,336
9823
Landfilled
2,979
0
0
0
Diverted from landfill
47%
100%
100%
100%