This report covers in detail the main activities undertaken by Ibstock factories and people in their contribution to building sustainability.
The highlights to look out for are:

• All Ibstock factory sites operate to ISO 14001, the environmental standard
• Ibstock bricks on average include 18% recovered and recycled material
• 36500 tonnes of waste materials were recycled through our processes
• Over 8MW of alternative energy is generated on our sites
• A 16% reduction in CO2 emitted from kiln combustion compared with 2005 was achieved
• Waste (excluding hardcore) sent to landfill was reduced by 38% during 2006.
• Significant quantities of materials were recovered and recycled and include:
  • 98000 cubic metres of water
  • 1306 tonnes of metal
  • 49750 litres of oil
  • 124 tonnes of wood
• £3384 was donated to ActionAid through toner and printer cartridge recycling
• Internal Environmental Audits were carried out at every factory site
• During 2006, 1152 trees were planted (over 56000 since 1999) and 2 hectares of land restored and landscaped (over 25 since 1999)

Ibstock Environmental Report 2007

Above are two examples of ecological products from Ibstock. On the left hand side is the Bat Brick and on the right is Ecoterre the range of unfired units for internal use. Details of all such products are available on the website www.ibstock.com. This is the ninth in the series of environment reports continuing the tradition of openness when dealing with matters of the environment

Overview of 2007

Despite some set backs 2007 was a good year for the environment. We have maintained our plans to use energy more efficiently by the use of best practice; the number of complaints and incidents have reduced considerably over previous years; we have maintained low rates of waste disposal to landfill; we have an active programme of product development incorporating recycled content; we are further exploring the generation of electricity from renewable sources such as wind turbines and we have begun to explore the recycling of packaging and product both from our suppliers and our own deliveries.

2007 began with enormous promise as major new investment in plant began to have a significant impact on our energy consumption per fired saleable tonne of product with resulting reduced carbon dioxide emissions whilst at the same time improving product yield and quality. Then we had one of the wettest summers on record, many building sites were unable to work and forward orders diminished. As we began to believe that drier weather was imminent the news from across the Atlantic about concerns on US mortgages impacted confidence in mortgage lending here and then the Northern Rock fiasco effectively squashed much of the remaining confidence in mortgage lending and this hit many forward house-building plans. By the year end a great deal of the optimism that started the year had evaporated and once again we had to contemplate reducing output at some factories over the colder (and quieter) winter months. Whilst this reduced our total Carbon Dioxide emissions to atmosphere it meant that at some plants we were using energy less efficiently. Fortunately the savings at the start of the year outweighed the losses at the end of the year and we finished slightly ahead of our energy target per tonne of product.

From a regulatory viewpoint 2007 ended on a disappointing note. Under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) the Carbon Dioxide emission permits for all but one of our 23 operating plants were re-issued by the Environment Agency and SEPA in Scotland. This task was sub-contracted to a consultancy and many man-days were occupied with supplying data to the consultants who subsequently transcribed a number of errors into 13 of our 22 permits. The EA are now repeating the exercise of issuing these.

We also ended the year with a notice from the Environment Agency about a potential prosecution relating to water discharges. This incident was very regrettable, it occurred at one of our factories where we had attempted for over 18 months or so to improve drainage arrangements. This had proved to be very difficult due to drainage layout and adverse topography. Two consultancies that were approached had failed to give guaranteed workable solutions. Within 2-3 weeks of a site tour with the Environment Agency officers where we explained our future plans – which met with their approval - we had an incident related to the work of a contractor whereby we were discharging above our consented limits. We pleaded guilty to the offence and were fined £15,000 by the Court.

Environmental Management Systems

During 2007 all 23 Ibstock Brick Ltd manufacturing sites were deemed to continue to be compliant with ISO 14001 by third party inspection. We also maintained our registration of the Pinhoe site during the period of dispatching the remaining stocks.

During 2007 we at last received the finalised environmental profile from the Building Research Establishment (BRE). This showed a substantial decrease in environmental impact from the data supplied previously circa 1999. Consequently we can now say that the manufacture of 1 tonne of brick is 1.1 Ecopoints where 100 Eco-points are equivalent to the impact of 1 UK citizen for a year. This is obtained by dividing all of the Environmental impact of the entire UK by the number of citizens who are resident. One tonne is approximately 417 bricks of the commonly used 215mm x 102mm x 65mm format size.

We are also proud to note that the average recycled content of Ibstock clay bricks is some 50% above the industry average figure when all materials used in the manufacture of all brick types is taken into consideration. It is our intention to have this recycled content independently verified during the course of our EU ETS verification visits (see above) which will take place between the end of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Work has also commenced on an independently verified carbon footprint of our activities and it is hoped to have this available before the end of May 2008.

Board Member with responsibility

The Technical Director continues to have executive responsibility for environmental matters. The Environmental Continuous Improvement Working Group (ECIWG) met twice in 2007. It is chaired by the Sustainability Manager and has three members of the Ibstock Brick Ltd Board together with the Company Secretary, as attendees.
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Objectives for 2007 were agreed at these meetings and some of the targets present a great challenge as we continue to push ever further into the sustainability agenda.

Corporate Environmental Policy

• The policy is freely available for downloading on Company Internet site. [www.Ibstock.com] Choose Health and Safety / Sustainability from the Home Page.
• As a result of the integration of quality and environmental systems we have a combined policy which is set out below, it is notable that continuous improvement is highlighted in this policy:

Corporate Environmental Targets for 2007

A review of the 2007 targets derived from the objectives set during 2006 / 2007 is given below.

The demanding energy saving targets implicit in our current Climate Change Agreement (CCA) until 2010 increases the cost of supplied energy (gas and electricity). It is perhaps unsurprising that energy saving issues continue to dominate the environmental improvement agenda

1. 1. Explore the possibility of a “take back” scheme for recovery of broken bricks from site. A scoping exercise has been undertaken to review the various issues that need to be addressed in defining such a scheme. The membership of a working group has been agreed and this includes the participation of our major sub-contracted haulier who is already experimenting with extensive trials using bio-diesel on our deliveries. This group will proceed during February 2008.
2. 2. Initiate the setting up of more community liaison groups. Only 4 factories have such groups now that meet regularly (Dorket Head; Ravenhead; Leicester and Ellistown). Further factories to be encouraged and this to be the first step in wider CSR initiatives. A CSR policy is to be drawn up. We are experiencing difficulties in enlisting the help of members of the public who are our immediate neighbours. Most reply that either there are no issues that concern them or that if an issue did arise they would bring it to our attention so they perceive no need for such a group to exist. We will continue to explore all avenues in setting up such groups.
3. 3. Incorporate a new KPI – Kgs of CO2 per m2 of brickwork into annual reporting. The averaged value for Ibstock during 2007 is 28.32 Kgs of CO2 per m2 from all sources (combustion, materials etc).
4. 4. Reduce waste by 10% based upon suppliers taking back packaging materials after delivery. Work has commenced into supplier take back schemes, it is too early as yet to say for sure if these are successful in reducing waste by 10%.
5. 5. Initiate a new Continuous Improvement Group dealing with water discharges from mineral workings and sites. This group to investigate best practice on control and monitoring. Group has been established and best practice has been established for the treatment of turbid quarry surface water. The group has also initiated a review of all company discharge consents.
6. 6. Ongoing work continues but another project to be initiated to produce products with 15% recycled material content as determined by MARSS methodology. Suitable materials have been sourced through NISP (National Industrial Symbiosis Programme) but few offer any real benefits, there are issues with the definitions of “waste” with some materials. Trials will continue with available materials.
7. 7. Increase use of recovered water with Ellistown, Birtley, South Holmwood and Chailey with the new storage facility in the old LPG tank. Target 50% of process use to be non mains potable. Preparations for the addition of these sources of water have been advanced but actual usage has yet to commence at any site.
8. 8. Continue with energy efficiency workshops and spread of best practice. Another is planned for 21st June 2007. A further workshop is planned for 13th March 2008.
9. 9. Exploit alternative energy sources. Himley has the potential for a further 1.0 MW late summer 2007. There are mature plans to investigate generation by wind turbines. There are also investigations into the potential for a further 0.4 MW LFG generation. Wind turbine yield assessments are underway but have already hit problems with planning authorities – some of this was anticipated. One assessment was rejected by planners who considered the placement of a turbine on a hillside close to the M6 motorway would be a distraction to motorists. Such turbines are already in existence on the northern stretches of the M6 and other major roads in the UK.
10. 10. Continue to press suppliers for environmental targets. Suppliers with a value of sales > £0.5m to be pressed to obtain ISO 14001 within 2 years if they do not already have it. We are now beginning to receive environmental policies and objectives from most major suppliers. However many of these still lack real substance. Our principal haulier (Wincanton) has issued detailed targets and we have such targets too from energy suppliers. We are still disappointed by the response from mainland Europe based machinery suppliers

2007 Corporate Environmental Objectives

At the time of producing this report the objectives had not been set for 2008. These will be included into an updated report at some time in the future. However, it is highly likely that the objectives will continue to focus on energy reduction, alternative (non fossil fuel) energy production, reduction in waste disposals to landfill, improving best practice in water discharges and increasing the recycling of rainwater into the process.

Review of Discharges into the Environment

Figures are cumulative for all operational clay brick factories and are the results are mostly derived from external third party testing. Some indicative results have been included where external data are not available for various reasons.

Emissions to air (main sources kiln exhausts, does not include emissions due to transportation)

(* estimated figures as monitoring not conducted at all sites in 2005)

Figures for Carbon Dioxide are separately reported in the next section dealing with energy.

Average Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) and Carbon Dioxide emissions to atmosphere.

During 2007 a major investment in the North East began to have an impact on the overall specific energy consumption and the overall CO 2 emissions. Later in the year it was necessary to reduce output at some factories due to the issues surrounding the mortgage crisis which originated in the USA. Thus had an adverse effect on specific energy consumption but a positive impact on actual Carbon Dioxide emissions which is an absolute tonnage.

In line with European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) rationale, we no longer consider emissions from electricity generation as included within our process definition these are the responsibility of the generators themselves. We estimate that the tonnes of Carbon Dioxide released by our activities is as according to this breakdown shown below.

Gross Carbon Dioxide emissions from fuel combustion alone in 2007 are approximately 400 tonnes higher than in 2006. This is due to operational circumstances eg product mix (not all products have the same energy requirements) and the factories that were operational throughout 2006 and 2007 are not identical. The CO 2 combustion emissions are still lower than any year up to 2005.

Our principal haulier (Wincanton) has reported to us that over 2007 an average total of 5% of bio-diesel was used for our deliveries. Trials with addition rates up to 50% continue. These efforts will continue to reduce the overall global warming impact of using Ibstock Bricks.

Videoconferencing in our two UK offices (Leicester and Chesterton) continues to be used at a steady pace. However, during 2007 it was decided to extend this communication network to mainland Europe to cut down on air travel between the Netherlands and Britain. These initiatives will additionally reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

Discharges to watercourses

We have established a matrix of water discharge testing at all of our sites in our internal reporting system. However, the intermittent nature of the volume and concentration of very low levels of suspended solids in water at consented discharge points to controlled waters continues to make assessment of total quantities discharged very difficult. Accurate figures are still not available at the time of publication. No "Red List" substances are discharged at any Ibstock clay brick site nor any List 1 or List 2 substances.

All Ibstock sites have now been mapped for underground drains and all discharge points on all sites are known and are monitored.

All Ibstock sites are fully compliant with the Oil Storage Regulations contained within the PPC Regulations. Contamination of watercourses with traces of oils should be a very remote possibility.

Fired brick hardcore is either used for our own purposes as an alternative to primary aggregate for building quarry access roads or it is sold for use as secondary aggregate, some 55-60 thousand tonnes per annum of primary aggregate is saved by using these non saleable items in this manner.

Hazardous waste

This category of waste is significantly represented by refractory materials in particular ceramic fibres. These are necessary to maintain our energy reduction programme by maintaining high levels of insulation at high temperature interfaces and it is difficult to foresee a substantial reduction in the use of ceramic fibre if the programme is maintained.

Non Hazardous Wastes

In 2006 we continued to reduce our waste disposal and achieved a further reduction of some 30% on the 2005 figure. Our waste strategy including segregation and avoidance of cross contamination is certainly bearing fruit.

We once again failed to make any headway on rainwater harvesting in 2007 due to other pressures on the business. However, we have now committed the capital expenditure to bring the use of process water up to somewhere close to 50% in 2008.

NB The quantity of oils sent for recovery is variable year on year as tanks are emptied when nearly full

Charitable recycling activities.

2007 saw yet another good year for funds donated to ActionAid for the toner cartridge and printer cartridge recycling scheme with over £ 2,700 for Third World projects, this scheme is operated entirely by one of the Technical Department staff in her own time.

The total collected so far in this scheme is now over £ 10,500. At the time of publishing this report we know the sum of money raised in 2007 but we will not have the certificate until the beginning of March 2008. The “Third World Purchasing Power” of these funds is many, many times greater than in the UK and we are confident that these make a significant difference to some communities.

Internal Environmental Audit

An internal Environmental Audit has been conducted at every manufacturing Ibstock site.

Shown below are the 2007 audit results against 2006 total audit score results. 2007 results are divided into 4 key areas:
Environmental Management System (includes controls, awareness and training)
Emissions & Discharges (into all three environmental media air, water, land)
Waste Management (includes housekeeping, waste minimisation and recycling)
Storage (bulk and small quantities).

Scoring of each of the 4 key areas was from 1-5.
1represents a totally unacceptable performance which requires immediate priority attention.
3 represents an acceptable level of performance (scores less than 3 are unacceptable).
5 represents a new standard of industry best practice.

The colour of the "change box" shows the movement in scores from 2006 to 2007. Green coloured boxes show positive improvements, yellow boxes show no change and red boxes show a deteriorated performance. Changes no greater than 0.2 either way are shown

20 of the 23 sites (87%) recorded an internal audit score greater than the benchmark score of 15. 6 sites have recorded scores better than 2006 whilst 3 sites have recorded lower overall scores than in 2006. Throckley was undertaking a very substantial development project involving large numbers of contractors on site for several months, this added to the burden of maintaining an orderly site at all times.

Environment focused supplier scheme

During 2007 we made some headway on the environmental / sustainability credentials of our suppliers. Our haulier has started substantial trials with Bio-Diesel as reported elsewhere in this report.

Equipment suppliers continue to be by far the most reticent group to produce any figures of any value to us.
We have now revised our strategy to focus on those suppliers with whom we do > £0.5 million business per annum and are asking those who do not already have it to begin the process of registration to ISO 14001 in the next 2 years.

At this time it remains unlikely that we can make any financial decisions based solely upon environmental credentials although we have an on-going policy of the purchase of wooden pallets either from managed forests or from recycled sources.

We are now in the process of making a large number of “on demand” presentations to our customers on the sustainability credentials of Ibstock. The pressures for this information will have to eventually pass upwards as well as downwards in our supply chain and suppliers of all but the most trivial quantities of materials will find the pressures to supply information unrelenting.

Employee environment programme

Whilst we had intended to provide IEMA* training to senior managers during 2007 it did not take place. The commitment was re-confirmed by the Board in 2007 to provide the Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management status to all factory managers and senior technical staff.
* Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

To cater for as many employees as possible new environmental awareness training packages were developed during 2007 in association with an external consultancy. One of these is aimed principally at Team Leaders another is for all operators. These courses will be delivered by Technical Staff during 2008.

Every contractor appointed to carry out work has to accept the Company Contractors rules which contain a
briefing on environmental requirements.

Environmental Stewardship

Despite the best endeavours of all employees of Ibstock situations have arisen from time to time during 2007. Detailed below is a list of such situations, these are reported as received. Brief details of all corrective actions are given.

During 2007 Ibstock Brick Ltd received a total of 11 environmental complaints from all sources eg Ibstock employees, neighbours and regulators; one of these at Throckley in February was substantial. This compares with 23 complaints received in 2001, 15 in 2002, 15 again in 2003, 19 in 2004, 16 in 2005 and 12 in 2006. This overall steady reduction in number of recorded complaints is most welcome.

Number of enviromental complaints received per year 2001-2007.

Of the 11 complaints there were 4 complaints received on noise issues, this is a welcome decrease from the 8 in 2006. At least one of these three noise complaints cannot be directly attributed to Ibstock and another is due to nesting gulls – which will prove to be very difficult to remedy. It now seems as though 3-4 noise complaints per year is the “usual number” to receive, none the less we shall continue to strive to reduce this to zero.

Four of the eleven complaints received (36%) related to contractor activities.

During 2007 Ibstock Brick Ltd had a total of 6 totally contained incidents involving fuels or chemicals all of which were promptly dealt with on site. In each case the integrity of the drainage system was maintained and no pollution left site to any watercourse or sewer. The number of contained spillages is one lower than the total for 2006.

During 2007 there were three full Newt surveys – two reported that there were no Newts present on site, a third (at our Nostell site) has shown Newts in relative abundance. There was also a badger survey, one bat survey and four ecological surveys undertaken on our sites. In terms of restoration of sites and related matters:

During 2007 a total of 2,630 trees were planted at Ibstock sites. Total planted since 1999 is over 59,000.

During 2007 one Hectare of land was restored and landscaped. Over 26 Hectares have now been restored since 1999.

During 2007 approximately 28,000 tonnes of “waste” materials were recycled through our processes. These materials include Pulverised Fly Ash (PFA), Coke Breeze and others. It is our intention to produce a revised
figure for waste recycled content based upon the WRAP (Waste Resources Action programme) approved methodology.

Community relationships

Ibstock Brick Ltd together with Cory Environmental Ltd founded the Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust (ICET) in 2001. The Trust uses funds available via the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme to provide grants to approved community projects.

The Government has changed the rules applicable to such projects. Further details can be obtained direct from ICET. However, we can say that ICET has so far contributed significantly over £2.5 million to environmental projects which meet the ENTRUST criteria.

During 2007 the monies allocated were as follows:

Stakeholder Communication

Ibstock continues to play a major part in developments in conjunction with Trade Associations. These include consultations on many papers issued by the Environment Agency and DEFRA (Department of the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). The pace of regulatory development shows no signs of slowing down and we have noted substantial differences between the approaches adopted by the UK Government
and the rest of Europe with the implementation of EU Directives. In essence the UK adopts a rigorous litigation based approach to EU Directives.

From our introductory comments it is easy to see that a very substantial amount of work was carried out with our trade association (British Ceramic Confederation) on matters relating to the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the overlap (or lack of it) with the existing Climate Change Levy (CCL).

Ibstock continues to be a major contributor and supporter of the Brick Development Association (BDA) and the publication of annual KPIs for the industry which are available on the BDA website (www.brick.org.uk). 

Further information is available from:  Dr David Hills d.hills@ibstock.co.uk or Jim Calder j.calder@ibstock.co.uk