Buying Greener: Construction waste management John Twitchen and Kevin Bush

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Buying GreenerConstruction waste management
John Twitchen and Kevin Bush
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City Limits a resource flow and ecological
footprint analysis of Greater London
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Sustainability

• Creating communities where people want to live
• Integrating new and existing communities
• Ensuring that future service supply can be
  accommodated
• Buildings that last
• Learning from that experience

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Construction

• Off-site manufacture
• Pre-assembled components
• Pre-cast/manufactured frame
• Design and specifications
• Drive down construction time
• Drive down construction costs
• Reducing construction waste
• Drive down defects at completion

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Sustainable construction waste

• Site Waste Management Plans
• Colour-coded skips
• Recycling to avoid landfill tax
• Waste minimisation on site
• Use recycled content/sustainable products
• Designing out waste

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Construction sector SME communications channel
audit

• Aim
• To identify the most effective communication
  channels used by construction companies
• To establish sources of information used by
  companies in learning about new business support
  services, and environmental/ sustainability
  issues
• Survey of 110 construction companies carried out
  for Envirowise

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Results
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Results
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Results
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Site Issues

• Space lack of space to site more than one skip
• Time short-term projects
• Specifiers architect and buyer decide detail
• Materials more careful management on site
• Landfill tax?

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Site Waste Management Plans

• Nigel Griffiths MP, Parliamentary Under
  Secretary for Construction Small Business
• The sector tells me that 20 of materials on
  site can be saved. For instance in aggregates the
  potential savings of a 50 take-up of SWMPs by
  the top 2,000 contractors are in excess of 100
  million.
• http//www.dti.gov.uk/construction/sustain/site_wa
  ste_management.pdf

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Specification is the key

• The buyer and architect control decisions
• Government OGC initiatives
• WRAP support
• Local initiatives and policies
• Local design guides

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Quick wins

• Use waste exchanges
• Ask waste contractors what is recycled
• Investigate recycling services
• Seek help from green purchasing forums
• Use recycled content alternatives like WarmCell
  and recycled aggregates
• Measurement!

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Quick wins

• Use low water usage appliances
• Install the most energy efficient units
• Build in renewables e.g. solar systems
• Future
• More design guides
• Increased Building Regulations requirements
• HIPs
• Carbon measurement

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Construction Waste

• Construction industry contributes to 20 of all
  landfill
• Currently 21m3 waste produced per 100m2
• Approx. 6 tonnes per semi-detached house
• Up to 6 of project costs
• Countryside Properties average 17m3
• Best practice, Stock, Essex 7m3

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CORE Programme

• Objectives to
• Engage with SMEs
• Promote environmental responsibility
• Create a vehicle for awareness training
• Observe best practice
• Reduce waste to landfill
• Encourage use of recycled materials

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Barriers

• SMEs are very busy
• Minimal resources
• Limited funding available
• Suspicion of additional administration
• Low awareness of new legislation
• Reluctance to be first to act

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Solutions

• Working together, like-minded organisations can
  achieve more
• Consistent messages
• Use existing relationships, i.e. CITB, HSE
• Joined-up marketing promotion
• Share resources

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Smart Waste Rover

• 28 sites visited
• Mix of public and private sector
• Private - Residential
• Public - School
• MOD Barracks
• Social Housing

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Common Issues

• Standard Form of Sub-Contract - places onus on
  main contractor to clear waste
• Attitude time-served trades v box-bashing
• Education how to communicate the message
• Waste contractors traditional pricing policy

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Site Issues

• Space lack of space to site more than one skip
• Management driven from the top
• Time short-term projects
• Specifiers environmentally-minded but maybe not
  waste-minded
• Materials not always ordered with
  waste/cut-offs in mind

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How?

• Establish commodity exchange
• Change culture to view waste as a resource
• Drive down the cost of recycled products
• Increase taxes on non-environmentally friendly
  materials
• Share knowledge and best practice

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How?

• More information
• www.remade-kentmedway.co.uk
• www.wrap.org.uk
• www.nisp.org.uk
• www.envirowise.gov.uk
• www.smartwaste.co.uk
• www.ciria.org.uk
• www.constructingexcellence.org
• www.envirowise.gov.uk
• www.bre.co.uk
• www.carillionplc.co.uk
• www.defra.gov.uk/environment
• www.dti.gov.uk
• www.netregs.gov.uk
• www.environment-agency.gov.uk
• www.wrap.org.uk