Application of waste materials a success now, a success in the future

Abstract

The recycling or reuse of secondary materials is a nowadays practice in the Netherlands. At this time more than 10% of all granular materials used in he building industry is replaced by secondary materials. Especially in infrastructurale works large quantities are being applied. The drive for he use of secondary materials is sustainable development. Thanks to the government's policy and entrepreneurship successes have been scored. At this time nearly all streams of granular waste streams or industrial byproducts (f.i. building and demolition waste, milled asphalt, municipal incineration bottom ash, coal fly ash, steel slag phosphorus slag, blast furnace slag) are being reused completely. Over the years there is a perceptible change in the questions related to the use of those materials. Where in the beginning the questions were mainly technical, today they are dealing with market forces, economics etcetera. From a governmental point of view, it is necessary to spot in time bottle necks that can be prohibitive for the successful application of those materials. The role of the government is very subtle. On the one hand in the Netherlands there is a strong believe in a free market economy, on the other hand the interests of the government are in having environmental acceptable applications and in striving for high grade use. This means that the government has to set coals and to create conditions for a free market that will achieve those coals. In the paper the way the Directorate-General of Public Works and Watermanagement deals with this subject will be explained. A special attention is paid to the succesfactors that have been decisive for the successful introduction of the secondary materials. A study into these succesfactors has been performed in order tot enable the government to increase its efficiency in the implementation of the policy. Also the question of sustainable use of materials will be dealt with. Not always reuse of a material is a synonym for or in line with sustainable development. Given the fact that the first use of the secondary material of course fulfils technical and environmental criteria, it is necessary to take into account the reuse and re-reuse of secondary materials. In this kind of life cycle approach not only technical or environmental conditions have to be set, bus also labor conditions, actual control of the material and other questions influence the acceptability of the first application. If these questions are not taken into account than it is possible that a solution now creates a larger problem in the future.