Avoiding the Scars of Aggregate Mining

avoiding the scars of aggregate mining

tax could transform landscape destroyer into recycler

vojtech kotecky, foe czech republic

The environmental impact of the aggregates industry in Central European countries is severe, second only to coal mining. But experience elsewhere indicates this destruction of landscape and habitat through large-scale quarrying is largely unnecessary.

devouring rural landscapes
Aggregates are construction materials such as sand, gravel and limestone. Quarrying these materials damages rural landscapes highly valued by the public and destroys unique biodiversity sites and species that depend on them. Quarry dust and exhaust from trucks that transport these materials pollute local communities. From the Scottish Highlands to the Czech Karst, FoE groups campaign with local people against large-scale projects like these.

The use of more sensitive technologies can limit local, short-term environmental effects, such as dust. But these technological fixes do almost nothing to reduce the major biodiversity and landscape impacts of aggregates quarrying.

less quarrying is the solution
We need better quarrying, but we also need less quarrying. Right now, construction materials are used with dramatically low efficiency, especially in countries with bad waste management and inadequate policies to reduce mining impacts. The recycling rate of construction and demolition waste in Central Europe is estimated at approximately 10 percent or less on average. Yet in some European Union countries, such as the Netherlands or Denmark, this figure exceeds 80 percent. Research indicates that in the UK, for example, materials wasted in construction sites each year could build 13,000 additional homes.

a tax that transforms
A tax for primary aggregates extraction is a key tool to reduce environmental damage in the European minerals industry. It would boost efficient use of these materials, and would also promote the use of construction and demolition waste or fly ash from coal-fired power plants.

In addition to stimulating recycling and reducing demand, the tax would also ensure that polluters pay – by incorporating some of the environmental costs of quarrying into the price of minerals.

The environmental costs of aggregates quarrying can also be reflected in tax banding. The tax structure should favour less damaging methods, such as smaller and underground operations, and discourage quarrying at sites with higher biodiversity and landscape value.

tarmac's two faces
The UK-based Tarmac corporation, a subsidiary of global mining giant Anglo-American, is a key European aggregates producer. In the UK, debates over the recently introduced aggregates tax spurred Tarmac to position itself as an important recycler of construction materials. Between 1997 and 2000, the company opened 26 recycling plants, which produced 1.5 million tons of recycled materials.

However, Tarmac's Czech subsidiary pays scant attention to recycling. The company does not operate a single recycling plant and has no specific plan for investment in this industry. Tarmac owns nearly half the quarries in the Ceske Stredohori Protected Landscape Area, a region particularly rich in biodiversity, and graced with a spectacular landscape formed by isolated volcanic upsurges.

hungry for more czech landscape
Tarmac's Kamyk-Trabice quarry, for example, is destroying the Trabice Hill near the famous Porta Bohemica Canyon. This includes a rare oak forest, steppe and flower-rich meadows. These habitats nurture 360 plant species and endangered animals including the smooth snake, tawny pipit and nightingale. Recently, Tarmac has been eyeing a new quarry in Ceske Stredohori. Only strong local opposition has thus far deterred the company from the project.

campaign for tax underway
These two sides of Tarmac clearly illustrate the positive effects that primary minerals taxation can have on the quarrying industry, as a recent FoEI report shows. This is why FoEI is campaigning for aggregates taxes similar to those in Denmark and the UK. We think it's the best way to turn the aggregates industry into a recycler, rather than a polluter and devourer of landscapes.


The report “Aggregates Taxation: A Blueprint for Central European Countries” is available from FoE Czech Republic (hduha@ecn.cz).