APPENDIX 10
Memorandum from the Government-Industry
Forum on Non-Food Uses of Crops
INTRODUCTION
The Government-Industry Forum on Non-Food Uses
of Crops welcomes the opportunity to contribute evidence to the
above Enquiry. One of the issues the Enquiry has set out to investigate
is whether it is possible to ensure materials and resources used
during building do not have a harmful impact on the environment.
This paper will specifically address this question, and will briefly
introduce the role of the Forum below and give examples of crop-derived
construction materials currently available or under development.
It will discuss the environmental benefits such materials offer,
and will briefly highlight some of the barriers to the development
and take up of these crops, along with some potential solutions
and some existing initiatives which the Committee might wish to
be aware of.
THE GOVERNMENT-INDUSTRY
FORUM ON
NON-FOOD
USES OF
CROPS
The Forum is a Non-Departmental Public Body,
established in March 2001 to provide strategic advice to the Government
and to industry on how to promote non-food uses of crops within
the UK.
The Forum believes that non-food uses of crops
are capable of addressing a number of urgent social objectives
related to the overall goal of economic and environmental sustainability.
These objectives include:
— Providing renewable sources of energy
and industrial materials.
— Preserving precious non-renewable
resources.
— Promoting scientific innovation and
industrial competitiveness.
— Waste management and reduction.
— Adding value to agriculture, and
promoting rural enterprise.
The environmental profile of crop-derived materials
is generally, though not always, superior to conventional alternatives,
and the Forum has been greatly impressed by the variety of problems
that non-food uses of crops can address.
It is against this background that the Forum
is interested in sustainable construction materials.
WHAT MATERIALS
ARE AVAILABLE?
Although the range of crop-derived materials
(excluding timber) currently available is relatively small, there
are a number of products on the market which would assist builders
and architects in raising the environmental and technical performance
of their buildings. Crop-derived materials are typically renewable,
are less toxic and may be compostable at end of life. Importantly
they typically have substantially lower embodied energy, and if
properly managed are usually more sustainable than conventional
materials.
The table below lists current examples and the
benefits they offer:
|
| Product | Environmental benefits
|
|
Insulation materials
(eg from hemp, flax, wool)
| —Low embodied energy in manufacture
—Naturally good performance when damp
—Renewable Feedstock
|
Paints
(Crop-derived pigments, binders and thinners, solvents and emulsifiers)
| —Low embodied energy in manufacture
—Reduced toxicity and disposal issues
—Renewable Feedstock
|
| Floor Covering from natural fibres | —Reduced health and allergy issues
—Ease of disposal for most materials
—Renewable Feedstock
|
| Biomass Heat Boilers | —Renewable Energy
—Efficient and carbon neutral
|
| Geotextiles for Landscaping and roadside use
| —Very much lower embodied energy
—Degrade naturally at end of life leaving no traces of plastics
—Renewable Feedstock
|
|
Such benefits are gradually being recognised: for example
Second Nature UK recently won The Queen's Award for Enterprise
(Sustainable Development) 2004 for their wool-based insulation
material Thermafleece.
BARRIERS TO
CROP-DERIVED
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
The Forum's investigations into crop-derived construction
materials are continuing. Early findings suggest several major
obstacles, which are given below along with some early responses.
Awareness and Demonstration
Awareness of alternative building materials within the traditionally
conservative construction industry is low, and there is a need
to increase confidence and demonstrate viability to potential
users. Demonstration activity is a key requirement to familiarise
architects, builders and planners with crop-derived materials,
and to build confidence in their performance.
The need for demonstration and awareness has been a key theme
of the Forum's investigations in this and other sectors. In response
to the Forum's recommendations, Defra has released funding of
up to £1.25 million per year for supply chain assessment
and development for industrial materials from crops. Proposals
from the construction sector are eligible for the programme, which
is aimed specifically at developing, assessing and disseminating
technologies using crops. The programme is administered by the
National Non-Food Crops Centre, and the call for proposals was
issued in late April 2004.
Planning
A lack of knowledge of, and confidence in, crop-derived materials
amongst planners is often a significant barrier to their use.
The awareness and demonstration work identified above is the first
step to redressing this problem, but an important additional step
would be for national planning guidance to give a clearer indication
that viable, proven crop-derived sustainable building materials
should be favoured wherever possible.
Information and Performance Data
Crop derived products commonly suffer from a lack of robust
performance data. This is especially important given the financial
risk involved and the extended life span in construction industry
projects. Often key information relating to longevity and durability
is not available because the product is relatively new and monitoring
has not been carried out; in other cases (eg using straw bales
for construction) evidence is available in other countries, but
is not available to UK builders and planning officials in English
from a source they know to be authoritative. As a partial response
to this problem, Defra has commissioned a handbook from the Construction
Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) to provide
architects and builders with a catalogue of crop-derived building
materials along with details of performance, environmental specification
and availability.
Government Procurement
The Forum believes that government procurement may have a
key role to play in encouraging the use of crop-derived materials.
By using such innovative materials on the government estate and
in government funded projects a substantial market could be created,
which would increase awareness and confidence in these materials.
By committing itself to viable crop-derived materials the Government
could send a clear signal to the industry, thus stimulating research
and development.
Widespread government procurement may ultimately help to
drive down cost by increasing the size of the sector. Cost remains
an issue for crop-derived materials, as these materials are often
at an early stage of their development and do not benefit from
the economies of scale and written down capital costs that conventional
materials often enjoy. We understand that Defra are currently
looking at opportunities to incorporate crop-derived materials
into forthcoming procurement directives.
The Forum would be pleased to discuss these issues further
with the Committee, or to suggest further sources of information.
May 2004
| 
