‘Blast furnace slag’ will no longer be considered as a waste
The large amounts of ‘blast furnace slag’ arising from iron and steel production will no longer be considered as a waste under a new definition from the Environment Agency. More than 2 million tonnes of the waste is produced each year in the UK, the vast majority of which is currently used as a material in the concrete and aggregate industries. It is the high rates of reuse that has allowed the Environment Agency to reclassify the material as a by-product rather than a waste.
Martin Brocklehurst, Head of Environmental Protection External Programmes for the Environment Agency, said: “Considering all the information available about Air Cooled and Ground Granulated BFS produced in the UK we have been able to conclude that this material can be classified as a by-product and not a waste. This is good news for the industry, which contributed greatly to the technical report that helped inform this decision, and has believed for some time that BFS is a by-product not a waste.”
A project ultimately funded by landfill tax income is looking at a number of waste materials with a view to providing clarification on when the materials should be classified as a by-product or raw material rather than waste. The other materials under investigation include bio-diesel, tyre-derived rubber materials, compost and flat glass amongst other materials.
The definition of the material as a by-product rather than a waste means that the cement and aggregate processors and users are no longer required to hold appropriate waste licenses to handle the material and therefore recycling is further supported.
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