Environment Agency Report – Spotlight 2002 – Released

The Environment Agency has released it’s 5th annual report on business environmental performance. The report, Spotlight 2002, has highlighted waste management as a key trend that requires greater attention.

Although the construction industry has reduced the number of pollution incidents, it still accounts for 70 million tonnes of waste per year. 13 million tonnes of that waste is in the form of unused materials.

Improvements in environmental performance were noted for:

• Castle Cement's Ribblesdale works which cut releases on particulates by 13%, dioxins and furans by 54% and sulphur dioxide by 12%.
• Castle Cement's Padeswood works cut releases in dioxins and furans by 86%, and in nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide by 36% and 32% respectively.
• Rockwool Limited, Bridgend, for investing more than £12 million in environmental improvements since 1996, resulting in carbon monoxide release being cut from over 500 tonnes per year to less than 10.

Source: Environment Agency