Aggregates Levy creates new waste

A new British Aggregates Association (BAA) survey has revealed a significant decrease in sales of secondary low-value products from BAA members quarries as a direct result of the Aggregates Levy.

"This is material that found a use within the construction industry as a low value sale -scalpings, chatter, "quarry waste" - often less than £1 a tonne and sometimes only a few pence a tonne. The addition of £1.60 a tonne on the selling price has proved a disincentive to users!" said the BAA.

"If the results were typical of the whole UK aggregates industry the new waste mountains being generated amount to some 15 to 20 million tonnes a year. This is a perverse effect of what was designed as an environmental tax," said a BAA spokesman.

In addition many quarries have old waste heaps on their sites which were previously a potential alternate aggregate. The tax regime also applies to this material and acts as a further disincentive to use.

Many members also noted that storage of the material is becoming a problem and could either affect development of their reserves or that additional planning applications will be required.