[+] Industry Explores Alternatives as Sand Shortfall Looms

Carl Sagan told us that there were more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the beaches of the world. From the perspective of some in the construction industry, he may have been right. Sand is a key part of concrete and plaster, the main ingredient for glass and crucial for road base and other aggregate materials, albeit it not an obvious ingredient. And that’s a problem for the industry. The issue with sand You cannot make glass for different uses, be it stemware or skyscraper windows, unless you have the right type of sand to melt down. If you want naturally occurring sand then, like coal and gas, you need to wait for geological periods of time—millennia, eons, eras. That’s a timeframe that would rend any developer’s feasibility plans asunder. In the past few years, researchers at Curtin University have traced sand grains on beaches in Western Australia and South Australia to origins in ice-covered mountains in Antarctica 170-190 million years ago. And that’s partly the problem: the world has deserts full of sand but that sand is wind-eroded and too fine and smooth for use in construction. Instead, sand made through water erosion and deposition from rivers and oceans is the most ideal as it can bind to other substances. But that means quarrying around riverbeds and coastal areas. The warnings about a possible sand shortage was first sounded in a report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2019 that voiced concerns we would face a critical shortage of sand by 2060. What the UN report highlighted is that a perception that sand is common also means its value doesn’t include the damage that can be perpetuated through the extraction process. Moving sand can change water flow patterns, cause erosion and disrupt species and agriculture leading to poverty and human migration but across the world many make their living from quarrying sand so changing extraction methods isn’t always that straightforward. Much of sand mining is illegal or poorly regulated with crime syndicates involved in some cases. ▲ People mining sand for construction near the Shilabati riverbank in West Bengal. As rivers are protected and coastal allotments are snapped up for tourism, the sites for sand-extraction decrease. But what is also concerning is that the low value placed on the resource often means sand extraction has not been measured or monitored adequately, despite it being the second most-used resource in the world after water. It is even incorporated into goods such as toothpaste, and the microchips and glass in the device you are reading this article on. “The world has been living with easy-to-access sand resources,” UNEP economy division director Sheila Aggarwal-Khan said in a 2022 report. “Consequently, sand is being used faster than it can be replenished by natural geological processes in some locations, while damage to ecosystems is occurring in others. “As the global urban population will increase to represent over 68 per cent of the world population by 2050, and as cities expand and urban infrastructure is upgraded, demand for sand will only increase. “Yet, sand in the natural environment supports fisheries, biodiversity, protects against coastal erosion and salinisation of aquifers, and serves as a natural filtration of water.” Beaches are also key in protecting against sea level rises as the climate crisis continues and with a significant amount of Australia’s most expensive buildings built on or close to the coast, flood mitigation should be front of mind for developers and investors. The situation in Australia In 2022, housing development in Western Australia increased the demand for sand but there was a shortage of supply. Many suppliers of construction materials and sand told the media at the time that the sites were the concern—many were protected, had different land-use permits or those using them for farming or tourism were not yet ready or willing to adapt them for quarrying purposes. But new sites are needed as each existing source is used up and as sites get further away from the businesses relying on them, transport costs increases. That also increases the carbon footprint of projects, many of which are now being developed to be carbon neutral—the more local the material sources the better. But the argument to open sites up for sand mining is not an easy one. City of Busselton planning and development services director Paul Needham said a proactive approach was needed and that new ways of building may need to be considered. Needham also said if sites had existing vegetation, that justified finding new approaches as “most of us would like to see it retained”. Matt Hemming, certified quantity surveyor and partner with Mitchell Brandtman told The Urban Developer that shortages in Australia were likely to be localised. ▲ About 50 billion tonnes of sand were used each year across all sectors of industry in 2022. “A lot of the base materials for construction are sourced locally,” Hemming says. “If there was a shortage, we wouldn’t look overseas to resolve it. “Instead, there would just be a bit of a lead time until we resolved it.” In 2022, the UNEP estimated that about 50 billion tonnes of sand were used each year across all sectors of industry. The Leiden University in The Netherlands estimated that the demand would increase by 45 per cent over the next four decades. It also estimated that by 2060, the construction sector would be using 4.6 billion tonnes of sand globally each year. “Our sand resources are not infinite, and we need to use them wisely,” UNEP co-ordinator Pascal Peduzzi said. “If we can get a grip on how to manage the most extracted solid material in the world, we can avert a crisis and move toward a circular economy.” In Victoria production is increasing. Resources Victoria’s Earth Resources Regulation Statistical Report 2022-2023 shows that 9.18 million tonnes of concrete sand was extracted in the state. It was worth about $179.31 million in 2022-23 compared to 9.25 million tonnes in 2018-19 worth $153.84 million. Victoria produced 1.61 million tonnes of fine sand valued at $19.33 million in 2018-19 with that increasing to 2.94 million tonnes in 2022-23, worth $60.97 million. Production and value of sand products in Victoria Product type groups 2018-19 Production (million tonnes) 2018-19 Value of sales ($ million) 2019-20 Production (million tonnes) 2019-20 Value of sales ($ million) 2020-21 Production (million tonnes) 2020-21 Value of sales ($ million) 2021-22 Production (million tonnes) 2021-22 Value of sales ($ million) 2022-23 Production (million tonnes) 2022-23 Value of sales ($ million) Concrete sand products 9.25 $151.73 8.76 $153.84 9.67 $151.72 11.79 $173.59 9.18 $179.31 Fine sand 1.61 $19.33 3.01 $43.49 2.32 $35.78 1.85 $29.88 2.94 $60.97 Foundry sand 0.86 $19.11 0.002 $0.10 0.57 $13.35 0.08 $7.25 0.07 $3.87 Industrial filters 0.02 $0.20 0.00 $0.00 0.05 $0.82 0.05 $3.18 0.06 $4.98 Total sand products 11.74 $190.37 11.77 $197.42 12.61 $201.67 13.77 $213.90 12.25 $249.12 Source: Resources Victoria A new quarry at Lang Lang near Melbourne was approved this month, the first in more than 20 years. The first to be approved through the Victorian Government’s Development Facilitation Program , it is expected to hold more than 13 million tonnes of sand. Lang Lang Sands, part of the Aurora Construction Materials group, will operate the site to use sand alongside recycled materials in higher grade concrete production. Hemming says that may be part of what allows Australia to not be too concerned about a potential sand shortage: the number of quarries we have. “We have a lot of sand mining out here in Queensland,” Hemming says. “We do have access to such quarries and sites so perhaps that protects us a bit.” Hemming says the main concern should not be a shortage of sand but of rising costs. “The biggest problem for us is the cost of energy and fuel in sourcing, producing and spreading material,” he says. “Trucking expenses are crazy, fuel, driver costs, safety and so on.” What developers can do The UNEP report recommended that those extracting sand, using sand in the construction and other industries, and funding such uses, including banks, needed to rethink how they approached the use of sand with governments setting up regulations for extraction and usage. Some developers and investors are already exploring some of these options. A return to vernacular architecture was one of the key suggestions for the construction industry so that the reliance on sand-based products would be limited. ▲ Glass, from bottles to skyscraper windows, cannot be made without the correct sand. Prefabrication, modular construction, timber and bamboo construction, cob, rammed earth, adobe and compressed or stabilised earth blocks were all recommended as were biophilic construction elements like mycelium insulation panels. Adaptive reuse was also proposed, framed as mining the Anthropocene and reusing created materials instead of mining primary resources. --> The report suggested creating buildings that could be deconstructed and reassembled as needed to build circularity into the economy. As well, work is being done on alternatives such as ‘mansands’— manufactured sands—that can be used instead of mined sands. Universities are experimenting with creating alternative mixes for concrete using other bio-material such as hemp, mycellium, plastic or paper waste and even bacteria, rubber tyres and lobsters . RMIT University has recently used coffee grounds in testing for hybrid concrete. Other projects have tackled the situation head on: when the NSW Government began work on the tunnels and tracks for roads and rail infrastructure to Aerotropolis and its new airport, the sand excavated from those tunnels was retained to be used in the runways. Hemming says while that is all well and good, he doesn’t think Australia’s current market would bear alternative options. “We cannot afford to be looking at alternatives basic construction materials in Australia at this moment,” he says. “Right now construction costs have escalated so it would have to come down to a cost-benefit situation. “I don’t know if we are at a sophisticated enough point to shift away from sand to alternative options unless we have to. “It’s a very brutal volatile market and these things do not stack up at the moment.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Industry Explores Alternatives as Sand Shortfall Looms

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