Outstanding examples of European aggregates sector sustainable development were celebrated at a prestigious
The UEPG Sustainable Development Awards 2016 attracted 41 aggregate company entrants, with eight individual category award winners revealed during a special awards ceremony at the prestigious Brussels Centre for Fine Arts.
Moderated by Peter Woodward, of Quest Associates, an independent company specialising in sustainable development programmes, the event awards were presented under three pillars - Environment, Social and Economic – by UEPG president Jesús Ortiz and UEPG secretary general Dirk Fincke.
The award winners were:
Environmental best practice –
Restoration –
Local community partnership –
Health & Safety best practice – FYM-
Economic contribution/added value to society – Kieswerk Maas Roeloff, Germany; Aqua Solar Village
Operational best practice, process or product innovation – FAMSA, Switzerland; Gravel that generates energy for 100 households
Best practice in innovation, recycling and manufactured aggregates – PROMSA, Spain; ARIBLACK project on slag aggregates
Special Award for Biodiversity –
Each of the 41 UEPG Sustainable Development Awards 2016 entrants received a certificate of merit in recognition of their vital projects.
Speaking after the presentation of the awards, Nigel Jackson, vice president of UEPG and CEO of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), described the European aggregates industry as the “great dynamo of the economy”, involving 15,000 companies, 25,000 operations, and the production of 2.7billion tonnes of material a year, while also engaging with and employing 200,000 people.
He continued: “I think this is an industry that’s got its head in the right place, its heart in the right place, and of its hands; some days we do not get it right but, by God, we do try. I think it’s the union of head, heart and hands that generate the outcomes that we have seen and celebrated today.”
Independent jury members for the 2016 edition of the UEPG Sustainable Development Awards were Angelo Caserta, Regional Director, Birdlife Europe; Dr Jonas Satkunas, Director of Lithuanian Geological Survey, EuroGeoSurveys; Jean-Pierre Damm, Vice-Chair of SSDCEI, industriAll (European Trade Union); Sirpa Hertell, Member of the CoR and the Espoo Council in Finland; Dr.Robert Galler, Head of the Institute for Subsurface Engineering, Montanuniversitat Leoben and Chairman of ITA CET Steering Committee, International Tunnelling Association Communication Education Training.
UEPG (Union Européenne des Producteurs de Granulats) launched the first European Restoration Award scheme in 1997. In 2005 UEPG enlarged the scope to include all facets of sustainable development, creating the current Sustainable Development Awards format – promoting the spread of best practice that goes well beyond what is required by planners or regulators.
The UEPG represents the European aggregates industry in Brussels, with its national association members coming from 29 countries. On behalf of its members, UEPG actively lobbies the European institutions and other stakeholders on issues key to the aggregates industry.
