If there’s one thing that everyone knows about the construction industry, it’s that they produce a lot of waste. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re not doing anything about it.
It’s a fact that ten million tonnes of construction products are wasted each year at a cost of over one billion pounds. That’s a lot of money. It also a lot of waste and that’s why, in 2008, we saw the introduction of the Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP).
SWMPs are a legal requirement in England but are only voluntary in the rest of the UK. We think they’re a great idea though.
Essentially a SWMP is a construction project’s green charter. But it’s not just about what will be done with all the waste that’ll be generated; it’s also about how a project will avoid excess waste in the first place. That’s what makes it so clever.
A good and correctly implemented SWMP should list:
- Who is in charge of resource management?
- What types of waste are likely to be generated?
- How will that waste be properly managed? Will it all be reduced, reused and recycled?
- How will the quantity of generated waste be measured?
- Which contractor will be used to makes sure the waste is properly recycled.
Cherry Hill Waste are very keen on that last bit. In fact, a big part of our business is aimed at taking care of C&D waste. That’s why we’d like to make a suggestion.
SWMPs are only a legal requirement in England and even then, only for projects over £300,000. But they are such a good idea that we’d like to encourage you to design one even if you’re working on a smaller project or are outside of England. Look for ways you can reduce, reuse and recycle your materials.
And, obviously, when you need a contractor to help with that, give us a call.
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