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Smart waste management

Follow the four principles of smart waste management: 

1. Avoid waste at source
2. Reuse materials and components
3. Recycle materials, and
4. Dispose of waste in a responsible manner, as a last resort.

Make sure that any waste stored for reuse, recycling or disposal cannot be washed or blown away.

Step 1: Avoid waste

Design stage

• Design to standard sizes
• Specify recycled and recyclable products
• Specify reusable, repairable materials and fittings
• Design for dismantling or deconstruction
• Renovate or refurbish rather than rebuild
• Incorporate a composting area into the landscape design, if possible, to avoid ongoing disposal of green waste after the project is complete

Construction stage

• Order materials to size
• Don't over-order
• Order pre-cut or prefabricated materials
• Reduce packaging at source - buy materials with minimal packaging
• Separate reusable or recyclable materials from waste

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Step 2: Reuse

Demolition or excavation stage

• Separate reusable materials for reuse on or off site
• Sell reusable materials to second hand dealers
• Reuse rock, topsoil and vegetation on site
• Stockpile materials for use elsewhere

Construction stage

• Reuse materials from the demolition/excavation stage
• Mulch and reuse as much green waste on site as possible

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Step 3: Recycle

• Look out for and participate in recycling opportunities.
• Organise on-site sorting and/or collection systems for reprocessing. Sort, store and cover all separated waste (use marked or partitioned skips for reusable and recyclable materials).
• Provide clean, uncontaminated material acceptable to the recycler.
• Train site workers not to damage or contaminate materials or offcuts so they can be reused where possible

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Step 4: Disposal

Dispose of waste to landfill as a last resort only. Landfill sites or waste transfer stations will:

• require correct handling for dusty or hazardous wastes
• attract price penalties for mixed loads
• offer discounts for sorted wastes, e.g. bricks, metals, timber

Remember! It is an offence for anyone to transport waste to, or accept waste at, a place that cannot lawfully be used as a waste facility.

It's a good idea to keep records of disposal. Both the owner and the transporter of the waste can be fined or prosecuted for illegal disposal or dumping.

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Waste management plans

Depending on the size of the job, your local council may require a waste management and minimisation plan. This will need to set out the type and volume of waste which will be generated on the job and how you intend to reuse, recycle or dispose of the waste.

Such a plan (whether mandatory or not) will improve your work organisation and reduce your waste costs. Sample plans may be available from your local council.

For each stage of the job–demolition, construction and maintenance– prepare a table setting out information about the waste. Each row of the table is concerned with one of the materials being handled, and should give details of the volume, opportunities for reuse or recycling on site and off site, and disposal methods.

For example:

Sample waste management plan

Material	Volume	On site uses	Off site uses	Disposal
Topsoil	200 m3	Reuse as fill or by spreading on site.	Nil	Nil
Bricks	20 m3	Clean and reuse for walls.  Broken bricks used for fill.	Excess to crushing and recycling co.	Nil
Concrete	5 m3	Break up and reuse for fill.	Nil	Excess to landfill

More information

• Your local council
• Reverse Garbage website