U.K. boosts recycling.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), based in the United Kingdom, has awarded three more capital grants from its aggregates competitions aimed at increasing the production and use of recycled aggregates in England.

WBB Minerals Ltd., National Grid Transco PLC and Coleman & Co. Ltd. are the latest beneficiaries of grants, targeted to create more than 1 million metric tons of aggregate recycling by 2010.

National Grid Transco has already started processing materials arising from its trench excavations. WRAP's grant of nearly $178,000 has been invested in machinery for crushing, screening and mixing 37,000 metric tons of aggregate per year, which is recycled into a foam concrete substitute and re-used to line trenches by Transco and its contractors.

WRAP is also contributing around $541,000 to a new plant being built by WBB Minerals, which will process ball clay waste into fine aggregate.

Sand excavated alongside the clay has traditionally been used to back-fill quarries, but once the plant becomes operational next year, WBB plans to introduce it into existing aggregates markets as well as to look for value-added applications. WBB plans to produce 305,000 metric tons by 2010.

Finally, WRAP has awarded around $700,000 to Coleman & Co. to redevelop former foundry buildings on a six-acre site in Birmingham.

Work currently underway includes demolition, cleanup, construction work for new storage bays and refurbishment of the foundry. A screening and washing plant has been ordered, and Coleman hopes to begin processing aggregates from its excavation and demolition works later in the year, with a projected 580,000 metric tons to be recycled by 2010.

To date, 14 contracts have been signed with companies awarded WRAP grants as part of the England Aggregates Competition, originally launched in 2002.

Steve Waite, WRAP's Aggregates Capital Project Manager, says, "These three grants complete the first round of WRAP England aggregate capital grants competitions, which have proved extremely successful and will, over the 14 contracts, generate 3.2 million metric tons of aggregates recycling over the next six years.

"We are in contract negotiations for our next round of capital grant competitions for England and Scotland and look forward to announcing project details in the near future."

WRAP is a UK program established to promote resource efficiency. Its particular focus is on creating stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products and removing the barriers to waste minimization, re-use and recycling.