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Introduction

 

Sustainable development is one of the main issues facing the aggregates industry across the UK. A sustainable aggregates industry is an environmental necessity - but it also has much to contribute in terms of efficiency and profitability. Since 2002, the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) has initiated a host of research projects that have generated a much better understanding of sustainability within the industry and the ways in which it can be achieved. The sheer weight of information now available to the industry’s managers and other key stakeholders can be daunting. This website seeks to distil some of the best projects into one easily-digestible pool of knowledge, through reviews of research on specific topics and a repository of project reports.

In 2008 MIRO & English Heritage were invited by Defra to produce a series of reviews looking at what had been achieved since the inception of the Aggregates Levy. The outcome was entitled ‘Sustainable Aggregates: a review of Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund Research Projects'. It encompassed twelve reviews which were grouped under four key themes:

Theme 1 - Reducing the Environmental Effect Theme 2 - Sustainable Provision of Aggregates
  
Theme 3 - Creating Environmental Improvements Theme 4 - Heritage

There was also a further review entitled 'An overview of design and management approaches to reducing the environmental footprint of the supply chain for land-won aggregates' which helps put the twelve reviews into the context of the quarry life-cycle, specifically in relation to the various elements of environmental footprint and the stages in the supply chain for land-won aggregates. This website provides access to those reviews and facilitates links to related research and projects.
The reviews identified gaps in the research, and ALSF funding in 2008/11 is being used to fill those gaps. Updates and final reports of this work will be accessible through this web site.