aggregate industries case study – examining how bs 8905 ... downloads... · aggregate industries...

“BS 8905 is a good reference standard for anyone who wants to get an overview of sustainability measurement or someone who wants to do Life Cycle Assessment and Whole Life Costing; the strength of the standard is that it can be applied to any number of products or sectors.” Shelley Frost, Head of Sustainability,Aggregate Industries

At a glance

• Aggregate Industries is a leader in the UK construction sector, producing a wide range of construction materials including aggregates, asphalt, and concrete products.

• The company has a long-standing commitment to creating a better built environment. Independently certifi ed to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, it is also the fi rst UK company to achieve BES 6001 – Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products.

• Given its commitment to improving the built environment, Aggregate Industries was looking for guidelines to enable holistic and fl exible sustainability appraisals that went beyond carbon – So they piloted BS 8905.

• Since then the company has developed a Sustainable Materials Assessment Framework that is underpinned by the standard. This work may also form part of a new way of communicating sustainability credentials to customers.

Aggregate Industries case study – Examining how BS 8905 can contribute to sustainability in construction

BSI Case Study Aggregate Industries BS 8905 Framework for the assessment of the sustainable use of materials

How BS 8905 works

• BS 8905 gives organizations a best-practice framework with which to compile a robust view of the relative sustainability of any type of material in use. The framework takes social, economic and environmental issues into account over a complete lifecycle.

• Once a particular case has been assessed, organizations can use this information to understand the potential consequences of continuing with the materials already in use.

• Additionally, a ‘base case’ should be compared with alternative solutions. In this way organizations will assess whether an alternative choice is overall more or less sustainable than a current choice.

• Using this model, organizations can progressively make better informed sustainability decisions about the materials they use, and over time become more relatively sustainable.

Why get involved?

Aggregate Industries is a significant player in the UK construction industry. As such Shelley Frost, Head of Sustainability at Aggregate Industries is well versed in existing sustainability schemes in this sector. However all these have a strong bias towards environmental issues. Frost was attracted to BS 8905 because the standard tackles incorporating economic

and social aspects as well as environmental for a more truly sustainable approach. The strength of BS 8905 is that it offers a means by which an organization can better understand the use of its materials in a more holistic way.

Getting to grips with BS 8905

Given the types of materials handled by Aggregate Industries, the company decided that the functional unit of the products assessed would be impact/tonne. A standard mix (or product ‘recipe’) would be identified and used as the base case for each product group, and then the performance of alternatives would be benchmarked against the base case.

Aggregate Industries also knows that the manufacturing site has a strong influence on the sustainability of these materials, so assessments would include site specific as well as product specific factors. Frost explains, “The framework will therefore assess the product and site, and the combination of both parts – over the three aspects of sustainability – will form the overall sustainability score for that product”.

Under BS 8905, Aggregate Industries then had to decide which key environmental, social and economic issues (or ‘parameters’) to assess against. It decided to select issues by combining the guidance in BS 8905 and in BES 6001 with an interview process that involved 25 external stakeholders.

A note on sustainable development

BS 8905 quotes the definition of sustainable development provided in BS 8900 – the foundation British Standard on sustainability. This says that sustainable development is “an enduring, balanced approach to economic activity, environmental responsibility and social progress.” But how in practice can that be transitioned into meaningful activity?

BS 8905 notes that the demands humanity currently makes on raw materials and natural resources considerably outstrip the planet’s capacity to replace those resources by natural means. Pragmatically, it follows that absolute sustainability is not currently attainable. That said, to sustain a growing global population and an increasing social need for improved quality of life, a more sustainable approach to the use of materials should be attempted.

With this in mind, BS 8905 states that the sustainable use of materials “seeks to maximize positive social, environmental and economic contributions and to minimize negative impacts”. In other words, the standard sets out a framework that will guide improvement in the sustainable use of materials, in relative terms.


Each individual issue would be scored on a sliding scale of increasing performance, and against 2010 averages. Each of the sustainability aspects, ie: ‘environmental’, ‘social’ and ‘economic’, was given the same total potential score to ensure the three aspects were considered equally. This would generate a balanced overall score or ‘Sustainability Index’ for each material.

Data collection and assessment

BS 8905 asks organizations to acquire defined data for each issue using appropriate and established methodologies and tools. Organizations should then analyze the results and validate them to ensure they make sense. Finally results should be compared to derive an overall view of the relative sustainability of a particular solution over a complete life cycle.

Aggregate Industries identified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), water, waste, biodiversity and recycled/secondary content as its key issues under environmental aspects. Under social issues, Aggregate Industries chose: the durability of a product; its secondary benefits; transport; employment and skills creation; and community engagement.

The standard notes (in Annex A – Social aspect of sustainability) that it is important to consider the social value contribution of a product in use and how the materials selection can enhance this social value; hence Aggregate Industries’ decision to analyse product durability and secondary benefits. Frost points out that a more durable product needs less maintenance and later replacement, therefore it creates less public inconvenience and more social value – this becomes particularly significant

for instance with asphalt used on a major motorway network. Similarly, secondary benefits such as improved thermal mass or better acoustics contribute to social value.

Within economic issues, Aggregate Industries chose the profit margin or contribution per tonne of a product, noting “In order for a product to be sustainable it must make a positive contribution to the overall profitability of the business.” So a standard margin is calculated for the base case and improvements on this are recognized accordingly. Whole life costing is also considered; as Frost notes, this has the merit of promoting broader life cycle thinking. Aggregate Industries also chose to assess Operating Equipment Efficiency (OEE) as a measure of the productivity of the plant on site (this data is already available) and finally vertical integration. Where a material can be sourced within the business it brings a greater economic benefit.

Reporting

BS 8905 requires organizations to communicate assessment results to both internal and external stakeholders. Aggregate Industries will communicate a sample set of results via an internal briefing to senior managers in the first instance. The hope is that this will stimulate managers to become more involved in developing the process. Also if the assessment process is seen to add value, it will enable sustainability assessments to be extended to a wider range of products.

Frost also intends that once a reasonable sample of products has been assessed under a more refined framework, the

overall sustainability index could be communicated to customers on the company website. This would include a careful explanation of the methodology and scoring system to ensure transparency and credibility. In due course BS 8905 results may well be included in the auditing scope of Aggregate Industries’ third party verified Sustainability Report under the GRI framework.

Conclusions

BS 8905 allowed Aggregate Industries to approach the assessment of its products in a more holistic way. “We often focus on recycled content or reduced embodied CO² or a functional benefit such as reduced noise or reduced time of installation on site; this is the first time we are looking at such a range of issues simultaneously,” says Frost.

The company also found that the general guidance found in BS 8905 gave options and did not prescribe exactly which issues to consider as part of the assessment, which was considered a strength.

Finally, adds Frost, “The process of interaction with stakeholders and issues relating to data integrity and availability were particularly important and relevant to Aggregate Industries.” She concludes, “The process itself brings a greater level of understanding of sustainability issues at the production stage but also throughout the whole life cycle. Organizational changes do not happen overnight but some things have the ability to act as catalysts and this assessment framework has the potential to do that.”


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About BS 8905

BS 8905 provides a framework for the assessment of social, economic and environmental issues in the sustainable use of materials. The framework can be applied to all parts of the supply chain, including the source of the material, the use of the material throughout the useful life of a product and the treatment of the material at the end of a product’s useful life. The standard is intended to support decisions about the sustainable use of any type of material.

The standard covers consideration of:

• the social values relating to the sourcing of materials, the use phase of a product life and an evaluation of social performance

• the environmental impacts of the sourcing of materials, the manufacture of materials and products and the impacts of the end-of-life phase that includes either recovery of the material by reuse, remanufacture, recycling or disposal

• some of the economic aspects of sustainability, including their geographical impacts, the sourcing of materials, their manufacture, the use phase and the end-of-life phase.

It also provides guidance on the use of decision support tools and on the importance of reliable data for the assessment of sustainability.

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About BSI Standards

BSI is the UK’s National Standards Body and represents UK economic and social interests across all European and international standards organizations and in the development of business information solutions for British organizations of all sizes and sectors. BSI is responsible for originating many of the world’s most commonly used management systems standards and publishes over 2,500 standards annually. These standards address the most pressing issues of today from clear billing to energy management and disability access to nano-technology; spanning sectors including aerospace, construction, energy, engineering, finance, healthcare, IT and retail. BSI’s standards are underpinned by a collaborative and rigorous approach, working with industry experts, government bodies, trade associations, businesses of all sizes and consumers to develop the standards for excellence.

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About BSI

BSI (British Standards Institution) is the business standards company that equips businesses with the necessary solutions to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence. Formed in 1901, BSI was the world’s first National Standards Body and a founding member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Over a century later it continues to facilitate business improvement across the globe by helping its clients drive performance, mange risk and grow sustainably through the adoption of international management systems standards, many of which BSI originated. Renowned for its marks of excellence including the consumer recognized BSI KitemarkTM, BSI’s influence spans multiple sectors including aerospace, construction, energy, engineering, finance, healthcare, IT and retail. With over 70,000 clients in 150 countries, BSI is an organization whose standards inspire excellence across the globe.

This case study was enabled by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting innovation in the UK.

aggregate industries case study – examining how bs 8905 ... downloads... · aggregate industries...

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