Sand and sustainability
According to research by The United Nations Environment Programme, sand is currently the most exploited raw material after water, and its exploitation has tripled in the past twenty years. It is used to raise land, to protect coastal areas against storms, to produce concrete, tarmac, glass, microchips and even in toothpaste and chocolate.
As the worldwide usage of raw materials rises to unprecedented heights in recent decades, social concern is growing. Sand is no exception. And rightfully so. if you mine sand irresponsibly, coasts start to erode, ground water becomes saline, and fishing grounds disappear.
Jan Fordeyn, Director Project Development and Conceptual Design
Sand as a precious natural resource
To address these issues, our colleague Jan Fordeyn co-authored the paper ‘Sand as a resource’. This paper aims to create a movement that treats and considers sand as the precious natural resource it is. It lists the various impacts of dredging activities, states possible solutions and mentions good practices.
Some key recommendations from this paper, that we at Jan De Nul put in to practice as much as possible:
- Conduct dredging near sensitive natural or cultural areas with strict rules, proper oversight, and careful monitoring.
- Reuse dredged sediment from projects as an alternative to extracting new sand.
- Monitor and understand physical and ecological processes to reduce impact and create nature-inspired designs.
