Sustainable Aggregate Resource Sustainable Aggregate Resource Management Management -- SARMaSARMa

Slavko Šolar, Geological Survey of SloveniaProject Coordinator

GEOLOGEOLOŠŠKI KI ZAVOD ZAVOD SLOVENIJESLOVENIJE

SARMa Romanian National Workshop, Bucharest, October 8, 2010

Content INTRODUCTION Sustianbility and mineral resources European (minerals) policies Facts on aggregates

SUSTAINABLE MINERAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – SARMa Challenges, Objectives Description of the Partnership Expected results and …..

SARMa Romanian National Workshop, Bucharest, October 8, 2010

There are many definitions of Sustainable Development because there is disagreement about how to balance the social equity, economic prosperity and environmental health

of sustainability.

Trade-offs and Choices in SD

► People want to sustain what they value, but values differ.

► It is not possible to sustain everything, everywhere, simultaneously.

► Future generations are important, but people live in poverty now.

► The best course of action is not always known.

► Concept of needs, idea of limitations, future oriented, process of change

5

Discussions about the role of natural resources in sustainability tend to focus on the need to sustain ecosystems and maintain biodiversity.

Individual deposits are finite in size and quantity. On a broader, global scale, minerals are seldom truly exhausted, but rather redistributed from their location in deposits to products and waste materials.

The main goals of sustainability as applied to minerals are to maintain the stream of benefits to society and to do so in a manner that results in a net benefit to society over the life of the mine and the product.

Once minerals such as aggregates are considered useful to humans and

technology has advanced to the point that they can be processed, they are

relabeled as resources. When aggregates become resources, their abundance and

availability, i.e. supply, become important.

Abundance is a question of geologic and economic stocks.

Availability is a question of flows through the mineral system.

Challenge is shifting to sustainable aggregate resource

management (SARM) and encouraging sustainable supply mix

(SSM) policies.

SARM is efficient, low socio-environmental impact quarrying and waste management.

SSM uses multiple sources, including recycled wastes and industrial by-products (slag), that together maximize net benefits of aggregate supply across generations.

European Minerals Policy ContextThematic strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural

Resources: COM(2005) 670"decoupling": more value per kilogram, more value per

impact, less impact per kilogramMining Waste DirectiveRaw Materials Initiative - COM(2008) 699:Securing reliable and undistorted access to raw materials is

increasingly becoming an important factor for the EU’s competitiveness and, hence, crucial to the success of the Lisbon Partnership for growth and jobs.

3 pillars: (1) access to raw materials at undistorted conditions, (2) forster sustainable supply of raw materials from EU sources, (3) reduce EU consumption of primary raw materials

Consistency of the project with EU horizontal policy on environmental Sustainability.

Synergies with other policies, programmesand other projects

Consistency with the local, regional and national policies of the involved partners

Cohesion Policy > Transnational Cooperation Programme > South East European (SEE) Transnational Programme.

Facts on aggregates Within the EU, the aggregate sector represents almost 3%

of Construction & Housing sector gross value added, just above 5 % of EU economy. Main producers (over 400 million tons) are larger EU countries: France, Germany and Spain.

Price varies between 3 € (south of Europe) and 8 € (mostly Scandinavian countries), while the majority of countries have a price ranging between 6,0 and 6,5 € per ton of aggregate.

Access to land is restricted; for example, extraction is banned on more than 80% of sand and gravel territory.

Aggregates are heavy and bulky. Transportation can add significantly to the cost of aggregate. Transportation range: 80 % is used within 35-50 km radius in UK.

Recycling rate of construction and demolition waste for use as aggregates varies from almost zero to up to 25 % in NW Europe.

Project Proposal Financial perspective 2007-2013 of the European Union Cohesion Policy > Transnational Cooperation Programme >

South East European (SEE) Transnational Programme. SEE program has four priorities

Priority Axis 2: Protection and improvement of the environment, Areas of Intervention (AoI) 2.4: Promote energy and resource efficiency.

Project proposal preparation started in spring 2008. Expression of Interest was submitted in summer 2008 and

was approved for second stage of evaluation. Detailed Application Form (Šolar S. et all. 2008) was written

by partnership in late fall 2008

Project was approved (from over 800 proposals SARMa was ranked as 15th) in spring 2009.

SUSTAINABLE AGGREGATES RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - SARMa

Project SEE AF/A/151/2.4/X – SARMa

2009 - 2011

Project Background• South East Europe countries are rich in aggregates.

Supply is not coordinated within or across the area. • Challenges are:

• At the site level, the issues are high environmental impacts, limited recycling, need for stakeholder consultation and capacity, and lack of social license to operate.

• At the regional/national level, the issues are policies and regulations affecting aggregates that: do not address resource and energy efficiency or EU guidelines; preclude the use of recycled materials and industrial by-products; and fail to address aggregate consumption in long-term sustainable development and spatial planning.

• The transnational issues are lack of capacity and lack of coordination on aggregates production and transport.

Main objectives of the project are:

• to develop common approach to sustainable aggregate resource management (SARM) and

• to ensure sustainable supply mix (SSM) planning, at three scales, to ensure efficient and secure supply in SEE.

SARM is efficient, low socio-environmental impact quarrying and waste management.

SSM uses multiple sources, including recycled wastes and industrial by-products (slag) that together maximize net benefits of aggregate supply across generations.

Local level

• Optimise the efficiency of primary aggregates production, prevent or minimize environmental impacts of quarrying and improve reclamation,

• Minimize illegal quarrying by improving knowledge, • Promote recycling (construction, demolition &

quarry waste), • Increase interested and affected groups’ capacity.

Regional/national level

• Develop strategies for sustainably managing aggregate resources, including in protected areas, considering aggregate resources in land management and use planning, and harmonizing policies across regions,

• Develop guidelines and procedures for SSM planning.

Transnational level

• Recommend methods for harmonizing SARM & SMM transregionally and transnationally,

• Design a multi-purpose and multi-scale Aggregates Intelligence System (AIS) as a long-term tool for know-how transfer.

Follow-up: prepare plan for a Regional Centre on SARM & SSM, to increase capacity of all interested and affected groups through workshops training and educational materials.

Project partners (14)1. ERDF: GeoZS - Geological survey of Slovenia, SI2. ERDF: MUL - University of Leoben, AT 3. ERDF: PELLA – Prefectural Authority of Pella, GR4. ERDF: IGME - Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, GR5. ERDF: TUC – Technical University of Crete, GR6. ERDF: MBFH – Hungarian Office for Mining and Geology, HU7. ERDF: ER – Emilia-Romagna Region - Environment, Soil and Coast

Defense Department, IT8. ERDF: PARMA – Parma Province - Territorial Planning Service, IT9. ERDF: IGR – National Institute for Research-Development in domain of

Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry and Remote Sensing, RO10. ERDF: FGG – University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geology and

Geophysics, RO11. IPA: MGK10 – Herzeg – Bosnia Canton Government – Ministry of

Economy, BiH12. IPA: RGF – University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, SRB13. 10 % partner: METE – Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy, AL

(Albanian Geological Survey)14. 10% Partner: MINGORP – Ministry of Economy, Labor and

Entrepreneurship, Energy and Mining Directorate, HR (Croatian Geological Survey

Regional distribution of project partners

Project observers (8):

1. MGRS – Ministry of Economy of Slovenia, SI2. ICMM – Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, KOSOVO3. HELLENIC – Hellenic Quarries S.A., GR4. PAVLIDES – Pavlides S.A., GR5. RCM – Region of Central Macedonia, GR6. ACHAIA – Prefecture of Achaia, GR7. NAMR – National Agency for Mineral Resources, RO8. WKNOE – Lower Austria Economic Chamber, Crafts and Trades Division,

AT9. …..10. POOL OF STAKEHOLDERS (industry, associations.

1. .…2. ….3. ….

Description of the Partnership

• Expertise and responsibility• Geographical coverage: 14 partners in 10

countries of SEE area, • Inclusion of partners from old member states, new

member states, and candidate countries• Partnership: ministries in charge or mining,

regional authorities, chamber of commerce and industry, geological surveys, institutes and faculties – internal dialogue

Methodical approach• Project partners aim to achieve objectives through work packages (WP):

– WP1: project management• WP-leader: Geological Survey, Slovenia

– WP2: project dissemination• WP-leader: Technical University of Crete, Greece

– WP3: activities at local scale• WP-leader: Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Greece

– WP4: regional/national scale• WP-leader: Hungarian Office for Mining and Geology

– WP5: transnational scale• WP-leader: University of Leoben, Austria

What do we do?What do we do?

questionaries...

baseline (case) study reports...

workshops, conferences, articles...

project meetings, field visits...

Expected results• Local level:

– More efficient aggregate extraction to maximize net benefits and achieve sustainable quarry life-cycle, more frequent adoption of best practices

– Fewer illegal quarries, – Increased demolition waste recycling.

• Regional/national level: – More policies and legislation that incorporate principles of SARM, – More consistent management of aggregates across SEE-nations,– Greater recognition of need to plan for SSM supported by planning

actions, – More nations creating maps and databases of aggregates &

transportation patterns

• Transnational level: – Increased capacity through knowledge transfer; – Greater policy coordination on SARM among SEE-nations, – Continuing partnership among project members representing ministries,

regional authorities, chambers of commerce and industry.

Main outputs will include:• Capacity building materials: printed materials

(manuals) on – (1) local level aggregate operation improvements, – (2) regional, national and transnational policy,

legislation, management and supply mix, – (3) C & D waste management, tools, methods (e.g. life

cycle analysis);

• Regional, national and transnational events.

• Results will include use of best practices, adoption of SARM and SSM, harmonized policies, and ongoing collaboration among partners.

Contact information:http://www.sarmaproject.eu/

slavko.solar@geo‐zs.siTel. (01) 28 09 760

Geological Survey of SloveniaDimičeva ulica 14

p.p. 2552SI – 1001 Ljubljana

http://www.sarmaproject.eu/

http://www.sarmaproject.eu/