Construction Site Waste Management Plan

2.1 Introduction

To fulfill the object of the topic for Site Waste Management Plan (hereinafter referred to as SWMP), the first part in this chapter 2 literature review is defined what is construction waste and follow by the types of materials waste contribute on construction site. . Hereafter, the next part will be continuous by the factors cause of site waste in the construction industry. For the last part will carry out on what is SWMP and the benefits of site waste management plan applying in construction industry and also for the guide to formulating a site waste management plans.

2.2 Construction waste

2.2.1 Definition of Construction waste

The waste building materials, packaging, and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings, and others structures.

(Source: Environmental Protection agency, USEPA)

Waste is defined as the by-product generated and removed from construction, renovation and demolition workplaces or sites of building and civil engineering structure.

(Source: Cheung, 1993)

Waste is defined as any material by-product of human and industrial activity that has no residual value.

(Source: Serpell and Alarcon, 1998)

Construction site waste can describe as the non-hazardous by-product resulting from activities during new construction and renovation. It is generated during the construction process because of factors such as site preparation, materials use, materials damage, and materials non- use, excess procurement and human error.

(Source: umplib.ump.edu.my)

Construction waste define as discarded material, for example concrete, steel, timber, bricks, blocks, glass, soil and plastic generated by new building construction, refurbishment, or demolition of existing building, and there are neither toxic nor biodegradable.

(Source: Building Dictionary)

Construction activities create waste materials, such as scrap, damaged or attaint materials, transient and consumable materials in construction, and aids that are not within in the completion project, casing of materials and the workforce also bring out of waste.

(Source: WBDG, 2010)

2.2.2 The Law of Construction waste

Waste management is now a carefully controlled and regulated process. These controls have been introduced in response to environmental damage and significant costs that have been imposed upon communities by the illegal disposal of waste. People who handling the waste need to know the law and comply on it. There are legal definitions of what is waste, but sometimes can be difficult to interpretation on it. Licenses may be needed for the storage of waste, also for the planning permission may be needed for temporary storage of waste, operation of recycling plant and final disposal. The person who carries of waste must be registered and a duty of care under criminal law obliges producers of waste to ensure its safe disposal or treatment.

(Source: Ferguson et al., 1995)

2.2 What is Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs)

According to the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), John Wiley and Sons (2010) defined that a SWMP provides a framework for managing the disposition of waste throughout the life of a construction project. The SWMP will identify assessed quantities of waste at construction site will be carried out at the pre-construction stage using the data based on the design and facilitate the identification of the suitable decisions about the best and maximum economical ways of managing the waste. The reason behind introducing SWMP is to insure that the type of waste generation is thought suitably from the design and specification step and facilitate choose of the construction manners and materials that would effectively reduce waste generation.

Add on it, SWMPs are an important tool for construction companies and their clients, of all sizes, to improve their environmental performance, meet regulatory controls and reduce rising costs of disposing of waste. This document sets out the basic structure of SWMPs and how companies can best use them to improve and manage their operations at all stages of site activity. It includes useful checklists and other guidance to help ensure the Plan is a practical tool as defined by Department of Trade and Industry, DTI (2004) and CPDNI, (2006).

2.4 The Benefits of SWMPs Applying In Construction Industry

Save time – You can answer queries about your waste from your environmental regulator or local council quickly and easily.

• Help you avoid prosecution – You can easily make sure all your waste is disposed of legally.

• Win new business – You can prove your environmental performance, which can give you an advantage in the tendering process.

• Understand and reduce waste disposal costs – You understand how your waste is managed so you can identify where to save money and reduce costs.

• Enhance your reputation – Your customers can see where you are helping the environment and making cost savings.

• Help the environment – You will manage materials and waste on site more responsibly so they are less of a risk to the local environment.

• Improve future projects – When your SWMP is complete you will have useful information for future projects about how you used resources and managed your waste.

(Source: Netregs)

SWMPs can save you money, but only if you use them to challenge the way you use your resources. By thinking about minimising waste from the outset you can save money on materials, disposal costs and labour and make a real difference to your bottom line. They should also make tracking your waste more straightforward as you will keep or log all waste paperwork in one document. This will help you to comply with the waste duty of care and reduce the risk of fly-tipping. Details of how to write and implement a plan are given in Part 2 of this guide. Advice on improving materials resource efficiency and securing greater savings through the SWMP process is provided in Part 4.

Although SWMPs will save the construction industry money it is important to ensure that all projects produce suitable plans to maintain a level playing field. As well as minimising waste, SWMPs will record how waste is disposed of, reused, recycled or recovered in other ways. Recovery or disposal must be in compliance with the waste management licensing system, the waste duty of care and waste carrier legislation, and it is expected that SWMPs will help to improve awareness and compliance with these existing legal provisions. SWMPs should thereby reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste that is illegally dumped or fly-tipped, resulting in cost savings to local authorities, the Environment Agency and landowners in clearing and investigating illegal waste activity. Part 3 of this guide provides information on enforcement responsibilities and recommended practices.

(Source: Defra, 2008)

2.3 Guides To Formulating A Site Waste Management Plans

Flowchart 1: The nine important steps to producing a Site Waste Management Plan.

(Source: NetRegs)

From the flowchart above is show that the nine important steps to formulate the SWMPs at the pre-construction stage which is before the project start. For the first step to be carried out is well plan and prepare for the SWMP, follow by the allocate responsibility of plan, next will be identify the waste and also identify how to manage and where to dispose of the waste. Moreover, the party who responsible for the plan is necessary to organise the materials and waste, communicate the plan and carry out training with the site staff, next step follow by measure the waste and update for the plan and the last step is review on the successful plan and learn from it.

A successful SWMP requires careful planning and preparation by the party who responsible to carry out the plan. Certainly, the larger the sizes of the project the more work are required. Before the construction works commence, it is necessary to prepare a SWMP for a project in England which the construction cost if above 300,000, or if it is a public sector contract above 200,000 in Northern Ireland. For prepare an effective plan there must well planning to satisfy for the particular project. According to the NetRegs the following for nine step to formulate the SWMP information are refer from that article.

Step one – Plan and prepare

The first step is important that start for the SWMP during the concept and design stage of the project. Design decisions can make a significant contribution to preventing and reducing waste in the first place. Planning these steps in advance will enable to get the most out of materials and help prevent them becoming waste. Therefore, it must record all decisions about the project design, construction methods or materials that will minimise the waste produced on site. Make sure record all measures taken to reduce waste, even where waste is totally eliminated. This will enable to quantify tonnages of reduced waste and cost savings. Confirm that the schedule of time to prepare SWMP while the construction work is being planned. This early stage is the best opportunity to reduce the amount of waste for project will produce.

Step two – Allocate responsibility for the SWMP

The following step which is allocates the responsibility on the plan, several people in the contract can be involved in the delivery of the plan, and furthermore, one of the people must be appointed to take overall responsibility for the SWMP. Normally, this will be the client in the pre-construction stage, but his responsibility may transfer to the principal contractor when construction commence. However, during the construction period on the plan, one of the person should be in charge and responsible for updating it. That person needs to clearly understand their responsibilities and have the authority to ensure that others will cooperate. The client and the principal contractor must sign a declaration that they will handle materials efficiently and manage waste appropriately in line with their duty of care.

Step three – Identify waste

The third step is identifying the types and quantities of waste that the project will produce. Think through every stage of the project and work out in advance what materials will be used. The client or contractor must estimate how much waste will be produced and set realistic targets for how much of that waste on site can reuse, recycle or dispose of. A simple way of getting this information together is to use a data sheet or table, this should include the waste hierarchy, onsite and off-site options for handling the waste and any special arrangements that need to make for hazardous waste. Use the data sheet at the planning stage of project and then throughout the project, for example to report weekly or monthly summaries.

Step four – Identify how to manage waste

In this stage, the client or contractor have to work out the best options for recycling and disposing of all the types of waste site produces and make sure to know where, when and what sort of materials can reuse, recycle or dispose of both on-site and off-site. Therefore, store and dispose of all waste responsibly and do not mix different types of waste. There can save time and money if segregate wastes as they are generated. Keep signed waste transfer notes (hereinafter referred to as WTNs) or consignment notes for all waste that dispose of or transfer from your site. Furthermore, WTNs must keep for at least two years and consignment notes for at least three years. This could be kept as an appendix to the plan. According to DTI, (2004) define as the principal contractor identify waste management options including reference to the waste hierarchy, on- and off-site options and pay particular attention to arrangements for identifying and managing any hazardous wastes produced.

(Source: NetRegs and DTI, (2004))

Step five – Identify where and how to dispose of waste

The client or contractor has to make sure where and how the waste will be disposed off. If there is using waste disposal contractors so will need to make sure they dispose of it safely and legally. The person who in charge need to check that anyone transporting the waste, including own business, is registered as a waste carrier with the environmental regulator and record their waste carrier registration number on the plan. All the sites receiving this waste have an appropriate permit, licence or registered exemption from the environmental regulator also record these details (including the permit or licence reference number) on the plan. There can check these registered waste carriers with environmental regulator.

Step six – Organise materials and waste

Make significant savings by carefully planning the materials that need for the project. Avoid over-ordering to save money and reduce site waste. Pre-order materials to specification at the design stage to reduce waste created from off-cuts and reduce labour costs. Consider any limitations of location. Consider using recycled or previously used materials as another way of keeping costs down and helping the environment. Record all the decisions that make to minimise waste, such as the construction methods and materials to be used. Make sure also record in SWMP targets in the data sheet.

Step seven – Communicate the plan and carry out training

After organise materials and waste, once have a clear plan, let everyone know about it, especially subcontractors. The client or contractor must keep the SWMP on site. Make sure everyone working on the project knows where to find it. Make sure that all workers on site have the right training and information to carry out their work according to the SWMP. Carry out any necessary training of in-house and sub-contract staff so that everyone understands the requirements of Site Waste Management Plan. (DTI, 2004)

Meet with staff and sub-contractors to clearly explain why the SWMP is important. Include SWMP information in site induction, and provide updates through toolbox talks. There may need to develop a training programme to make sure everyone understands how to report waste and material use. The training should ensure that everyone is aware of the importance of asking for and recording the correct paperwork, receipts, destinations for materials etc.

Train and brief the workers on the importance of not mixing wastes or contaminating skips. Designate skip areas and label skips clearly. During the construction of the project, principal contractor carry out spot checks and monitor the staff regularly to make sure they are in succession procedures. Appoint a ‘site champion’ with the authority to make sure everyone comply on the plan.

(Source: NetRegs and DTI, (2004))

Step eight – Measure the waste and update for SWMP

Furthermore, once the project is underway the client or contractor need to update the SWMP regularly when waste leaves the construction site. Keep on follow of all movements of waste within and from site. There must record the types of waste taken, who removed the waste and where they took the waste. Hold the waste documents as an appendix to the plan and make sure update of plan for the project with the totals of waste handled to reflect the progress. Therefore, the client or contractor measure how well the plan is working by estimating the type and quantity of waste that is produced.

Carry out the measurements so the client or principal contractor can compare with projects in the future. For example, measure for volume which is the number of full skips, the next is value for the cost of disposal, follow by weight for weighbridge tickets returned to contractor. Then will be record waste costs against the value of project, area of build floor space, and volume of building. Follow up the progress by updating data sheet in order and improve data sheet if circumstances change. The principal contractor has to make sure everything is going based on the plan and make any changes which required.

Step nine – Review the success and learn lessons for the future

In this last stage is review the success plan and learn from there for the future project. When the project go to an end the SWMP should give an accurate record of how effectively the client or principal contractor have managed the materials on the site and how well met on the waste management targets. If the project construction cost is estimated between the £ 300,000 and £ 500,000 which locate in England, the principal contractor must add on more information to the plan within three months of the project being completed to confirm the plan has been monitored and updated on a regular basis, also explain on any changes from the original plan. For which the construction cost of the project is over £ 500,000 the principal contractor also need to compare on each type of waste for estimated and actual quantities, and estimate the saving cost achieved by the plan.

For future construction projects, the information in the plan will be very useful. A report of the SWMP results and a list of action points could bind together for the future. So the principal contractor can send over to staff and customers to inform that everyone who involved in delivering the SWMP about its impact of cost for the project, value, and benefits to the environment. Add on it, according to the DTI, (2004) provide that the principal contractor share these with colleagues so that they can benefit from experiences also. The principal contractor must keep the SWMP for at least two years after the date of completion of project, keep its either at the project site, or at the principal contractor’s main place of business.

(Source: NetRegs and DTI, (2004))

Flowchart: Resource efficient approach to using SWMPs.

(Source: Defra, 2008)

2.5 The Types of Materials Waste On Site

2.4.1 Demolition

2.4.2 In-situ Concrete

2.4.3 Precast Concrete

2.4.4 Formwork for Concrete

2.4.5 Reinforcement

2.4.6 Bricks and Blocks

2.4.7 Scaffolding

2.4.8 Timber

2.4.9 Roof Tiles

2.4.10 Glass

2.4.11 Mastic Asphalt and Felt Products

2.4.12 Plumbing

2.4.13 Floor Screeds and Mortar

2.4.14 Joinery

2.4.15 Plaster

2.4.16 Plaster Board and other Dry Lining materials

2.4.17 Wall and Floor Tiling

2.4.18 Suspended Ceiling

2.4.19 Paint

2.6 The Factors of Site Waste In Construction Industry