Large UK Construction Contractors Will Seek 50% Reduction in their Construction Waste

The ICE's New Civil Engineer magazine reported in their 24 April 2008 edition, that major contractors and industry bodies will soon commit themselves to cutting construction waste, in a move that will mirror undertakings from major shop chains like Tesco's, which has already pledged to cut excessive product packaging.

The UK Government has set a target of halving construction waste, which accounts for one third of total annual UK waste by weight, by 2012 and is now going to firms and industry bodies with a plea that each should help it meet this very substantial target.

The governments waste quango known as the Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP) has been consulting on its plans to launch this construction waste commitment in the autumn of 2008.

Industry bodies including the Major Contractors Group (MCG), the Construction Confederation and the British Property Federation are working with WRAP to develop the terms of the commitment, with several major firms apparently willing to sign up.

WRAP’s head of construction Mike Watson said that the introduction on 6 April of compulsory Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) for projects valued above £300,000 has forced contractors to record their waste, and a commitment to cut it was the logical next step.

"The benefit of signing a public commitment to cut waste is that it obviously demonstrates corporate responsibility," said Watson.

"But it will also help drive down costs as the price of waste through landfill tax and gate fees continues to rise."

Watson added that the commitment would see firms set their own targets for reducing waste.

"The targets will use established key performance indicators given by Constructing Excellence, such as waste arisings per £100,000 spent," said Watson.

There are previous examples of industry entering construction waste commitments. Two similar sector wide promises to cut waste have been made.

The first is known as the Courtauld Commitment, and was signed by grocery retailers in July 2005. In that agreement, industry agreed to fund solutions and technologies that would cut the amount of packaging waste.

The second saw utility firms sign an agreement on 1 April to cut the 2.4M tonnes of trench arisings that they and their contractors send to landfill sites annually.