72.8 million tonnes — 31% of UK aggregates supply in 2024 — must be backed by a fresh government survey, the Washed Aggregates Trade Association (WATA) has said, endorsing a parallel call from the Mineral Products Association (MPA).

The figure appears in a new MPA report, Construction Aggregates Supply in GB 2024, which puts recovered material alongside primary quarry output in its supply breakdown.

What does the MPA report say?

The MPA puts 2024 recycled and secondary aggregate output at 72.8Mt, equivalent to 31% of total aggregates supply in Great Britain. The estimate combines material recovered from construction, demolition and excavation (CDE) waste with secondary aggregate produced from industrial by-products.

MPA has asked the UK government to run its own survey to verify the figure. The most recent official data on C&D waste dates to 2008 — almost two decades before the reference year used in the new report.

Andy Hill, CEO of WATA, said the size of the recovered-material stream demands a current evidence base.

"The scale of the figures demonstrates that resource recovery is already an important part of aggregates supply in Great Britain," Hill said.

What is WATA's stake in the data?

WATA represents specialist operators of aggregate wash plants. Members feed CDE waste through washing and screening equipment to recover material that would otherwise go to landfill, producing washed recycled aggregates and other usable mineral products.

The trade body argues that current data does not separately quantify washed recycled aggregates, even though wash plants handle a substantial share of the recovered material reaching the construction supply chain.

"Washed aggregates play an important role in that contribution. Specialist wash plants are recovering valuable materials from construction, demolition and excavation waste and producing washed recycled aggregates and other usable mineral products every day," Hill said.

WATA wants a refreshed survey to confirm volumes and to map the range of products now coming out of wash plants.

"A current picture of the industry would be extremely valuable, not only in establishing how much material is being recovered, but also in understanding the range of materials and products now being produced and how they are being used," Hill said.

What is the regulatory gap?

The last comprehensive government survey of construction and demolition waste dates to 2008. No equivalent dataset on aggregate recovery has emerged since, leaving trade associations to publish their own recovery figures — as MPA has now done with its 72.8Mt estimate.

MPA wants ministers to commission a successor survey so recycled and secondary aggregates are tracked alongside primary production. WATA has backed that position.

The trade association said the report's findings highlight the need for a better understanding of how materials are being recovered and returned to productive use across the construction sector.

What happens next?

The decision sits with Whitehall. A government-commissioned survey would convert the MPA's 72.8Mt estimate into an official baseline, giving planners, specifiers and procurement bodies the verified data they currently lack.

The milestone to watch is whether ministers accept the MPA proposal and timetable a fresh aggregate-recovery survey. Until then, the trade body's 2024 figure stands as the most current published estimate of Britain's recovered-aggregate supply.