Background The 6th Environmental Action Programme recognises the importance of the link between the environment and public health and promoting the more sustainable use of natural resources. It also specifically identifies the need to ensure the “sustainable use and high quality of our water resources”, the need to aim for “a non-toxic environment” and the need to “reduce the quantity of waste going to final disposal”. The Advanced Filtration Management (AFM) project will make a positive contribution to these key EU environmental objectives by developing and testing a product made from a recycled material that is more effective than sand at filtering drinking water. AFM is a new and innovative method of filtering water using recycled glass. Using properties of glass that resist bacteria build up and contamination that adversely affects standard sand filters, this filtration medium has proved to be highly effective at removing bacteria, parasites and organic matter from water filters tested in several different systems, including sewage treatment plants, swimming pools, drinking water and large aquariums. Although the product is more expensive than the sand equivalent, the medium has a longer lifespan and, as a much more effective filter, has health and safety benefits. The medium has been approved by the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and opportunities for use within the water industry, along with the treatment of sewage effluent, have opened up as a result. As drinking water and wastewater disposal standards increase over the next ten years to 2015, AFM filtration will become increasingly important. Objectives The new product, which was made from recycled material and tested during the project, was expected to: • Reduce the need for chemical treatment through improved primary filtration; • Decrease the use of natural non-renewable resources by replacing virgin sand as a medium; • Reduce the disposal of glass to landfill; • Increase sustainability as glass will survive the duration of the filtration system; and • Decrease industrial wastewater discharge through new applications. The project aimed to mass-produce a high value product from waste glass that improves the filtration system for municipal drinking water supplies. The protection of public health would also be improved through improvements to the quality of drinking water. The project also aimed to reduce the environmental impact of wastewater from industrial and water discharge from sewers. Specific project objectives were to: • Confirm that the advanced filtration medium meets drinking water inspectorate standards; • Establish the first full-scale processing facility for AFM; and • Establish market acceptance of AFM. Results The project generated a huge amount of interest in its product, and many big swimming pools in Scotland switched from their existing sand filters to AFM. Initially present in just a few public swimming pools in Scotland, the results and the savings made as a result of replacement were large enough to convince three councils to switch all their swimming pools to using the medium. Following Drinking Water Inspectorate approval for AFM, the project developed a network of suppliers for the raw cullet that meets the Dryden Aqua's specification. It established the first full-scale processing facility for AFM from waste glass (mainly green and brown bottles). The production facility has a capacity to process 20,000 metric tonnes per year AFM is presently used on a small scale (approximately 1000 tonnes) in pressure filters to treat a wide range of water types. The project provided an improved system for the filtration of drinking water. Initial tests show that AFM out-performs sand in drinking water systems and that there is scope for significant further improvement to water quality coupled with costs savings over sand based filters. AFM is also currently used for tertiary treatment of sewerage effluent, industrial wastewater, fish farms, swimming pools and landfill leachate. These applications have tremendous growth potential. The project aimed to open up these markets for using large quantities of AFM and to remove bio-accumulated PCBs from industrial and landfill waste discharges.