Why We Should Be Talking About Sand

At first glance, with Sahara sand dusting our cars and beach visits leaving traces of sand for days, it might appear that sand is abundantly available. However, the reality is starkly different; we are facing a growing crisis of sand scarcity.

Sand is the new water

Sand is crucial in modern construction and manufacturing. It is used in everything from the concrete of our buildings and the asphalt of our roads to the glass in our windows and electronic devices. As the second most consumed natural resource after water, our global usage is an astonishing 50 billion metric tons annually. This equates to about six tons per person—roughly the weight of an adult hippopotamus.

However, similar to how salt water is abundant but freshwater remains scarce, not all sand is suitable for the requirements of our current economic activities. The smooth and rounded grains of Sahara sand, shaped by wind, are ill-suited for construction, which requires the more angular grains produced by water erosion in rivers and seas. The massive demand for this type of sand, primarily dredged from rivers, poses dual threats: a looming shortage and significant environmental degradation. Dredging disrupts riverbed ecosystems, kills aquatic life, and leads to murky water that blocks sunlight, affecting both flora and fauna. Moreover, unregulated river sand extraction has sparked social upheaval, with illegal sand miners increasingly clashing violently with activists and law enforcement.

Given the rising urbanization, the demand for sand is projected to surge. Research[1] suggests that sand requirements in the construction sector will grow by 45% from 2020 to 2060. Moreover, this figure doesn't account for another significant factor likely to boost sand demand: coastal protection. As the impacts of climate change intensifies and sea levels rise, the need for sand to strengthen our coastlines and protect against flooding will further increase demand.

Innovation for security and sustainability

Addressing this crisis requires, first and foremost, recognizing the importance of the security and sustainability issues surrounding sand extraction. Governance of this critical resource must prioritize minimizing biodiversity loss and social impacts. Other solutions focus on reducing the demand for sand. One such approach involves reducing construction demand through clever urban planning. Another could promote circularity, for instance, by keeping sand in use through the reuse and recycling of concrete and glass and by designing to reduce sand use.

Moreover, exploring alternatives to sand can help reduce our reliance on natural sand. For instance, fly ash from waste incinerators is already used in construction materials, albeit in lower-quality applications. Innovations that enable concrete production with less sand or fully functional alternatives will emerge as the sand crisis becomes more urgent. By maximizing these solutions, the demand for sand in building could decrease by 42% from 2020 levels by 2060!

At Econopolis Strategy, our involvement in the blue economy has deepened our understanding of these crucial issues. We invite our readers to explore and engage with us on the often overlooked yet vitally important topic of sand sustainability.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00857-0