Better planning cuts waste on building sites

Thinking about the waste that will be produced before a job has even begun can help the construction industry save money and the environment.


This is the message of a series of workshops taking place up and down the country to promote site waste management plans.

Two government backed agencies, Envirowise and the Waste & resources Action Plan (WRAP) have teamed up to put on the events, which aim to help businesses improve their environmental performance and ensure compliance with waste regulations.

The workshops outline how important it is for those drawing up the plans to engage with everyone involved in the building process, from clients and architects through to sub contractors doing the smallest of jobs.

While they do cover the theory and explain why drawing up an SWMP is good practice, they focus on practical advice on resource efficiency and waste minimisation.

The advice is backed up by case studies, modelling tools and training.

SWMPs encourage companies to systematically look at how waste is likely to be produced at all stages of a project’s delivery which has been shown to lead to an overall reduction in waste and flytipping.

They can help forecast the amount and type of waste that will be produced on a site, identify how it can be reduced, reused, recycled or disposed of and provide a record of the actual amounts of waste which are subsequently produced.

Full details of the courses can be found on the envirowise website.

Sam Bond

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