The Waste Hierarchy

1
The Waste Hierarchy

• An Introduction to
• Managing Wastes on Site

2
The Waste Hierarchy

• This is an approach adopted by the UK Government
  in dealing with wastes

3
Reduce

• This is about waste that we can reduce directly
  by
• Better design
• Better purchasing
• Better ways of working
• Reducing waste is the ideal approach because we
  use the right amount of materials for the job

4
What is Waste?

• 17 water-logged bags of cement on a pallet
  something weve all seen on construction sites
• What is the waste?
• Just the cost of 17 bags of cement?

5
More than just the costs
Slip and trip hazard
Energy used to make the cement
Cement leaking into ground water
Unpleasant Working conditions
Cost of transporting the cement to site
6
Reduce is Most Preferred

• If we can reduce waste, then everything becomes
  easier
• Factories do not need to waste energy and
  resources to make things we throw away
• We do not need to transport the materials and so
  reduce traffic pollution
• We do not need to move the materials to the teams
  and so reduce risks of slip trips and falls!

7
Not Always Possible

• We can do our best, but it is often that some
  plasterboard off-cuts, some bits of timber and
  some half bricks or blocks will not be usable
• So we move on from Reduce to the other options

8
Reuse

• Can we use the hoarding from around the site for
  the next job?
• Can we reuse the forms from form working?
• Can we use some of the blocks and bricks off-cuts
• Of course we can (and youre probably doing it
  already!)

9
Reuse Difficulties

• Sometimes it is hard to transfer materials to
  another job
• Sometimes the volume of construction wastes means
  hardly anyone can take that many tonnes of
  materials
• Sometimes contaminated materials just cannot be
  reused easily

10
Recovery

• This includes
• Recycling where our wastes are used to make
  something new
• Composting where our waste is decomposed not
  too relevant for construction wastes
• Energy Conversion where waste is burned to make
  energy (this can cause pollution)

11
Recycle

• This is something that most people know about but
  it is the solution only when you cannot reduce
  (anymore) or reuse (anymore)
• Recycling is carried out by specialists who sort
  the waste materials into various types and then
  finds businesses that can use them
• We can help by segregating our wastes

12
Segregating our wastes
Not all in one skip
But in separate, labelled bins
13
Disposal

• This is the end of the line, where all the values
  are taken from the waste stream and it is then
  disposed of in landfills
• However, modern laws restrict what can be
  landfilled (in other words, it costs more!)
• So we need to minimise our wastes to minimise our
  costs and impact on the environment

14
Contact Us

• Uly Ma
• Greenfile Developments
• uma_at_greenfile.net
• Katherine Adams
• BRE
• adamsk_at_bre.co.uk