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Waste Management - Tips for Home Builders

Why do I need to reduce my waste?
In response to concerns about increasing waste, the NSW government introduced the Waste Minimisation and Management act (1995) which sets out a new framework for managing waste. The main aims of the Act are to:
  • Reduce waste to landfill by 60% by the year 2000 (based on 1990 rates), and
  • Promote the waste management hierarchy:
    • AVOID - waste at source
    • REUSE - materials and components
    • RECYCLE - materials into new products
    • DISPOSE - as a last resource
QUICK FACTS:
  • Australian's produce 18 million tonnes of waste each year - that is enough to cover the whole of Victoria to a depth of 10cm.
  • Every year, Sydneysiders bury enough steel to rebuild the Harbour Bridge.
  • 32 billion cigarette buts are discarded every year - if all these butts were lined up they would stretch for 640,000 km and go around the world 23 times.
  • Australians use 6 billion plastic bags each year- tied together they would stretch around the world 37 times.
  • One (1) tonne of recycled paper or cardboard saves approximately 13 trees; 2.5 barrels of oil; 4,100 kw of electricity; 4 cubic metres of landfill (tipping space); and 31,780 litres of water.
GETTING STARTED
  • Home builders will soon need to prepare a waste management plan when lodging plans to Council for a Development Approval
  • Conduct a waste evaluation to determine type of waste generated
  • Determine if the material can be diverted to avoid expensive landfill fees
  • Promote your successes to staff, eg. competitions for "Best Waste Tip" or "Best Waste Saving Project" by sub contractor
AVOID
  • Estimate accurately the material required, measure twice, cut once
  • Use designs that suit modular and prefabricated construction
  • Develop purchasing policies which encourage the purchasing of:
    • durable and repairable equipment
    • high quality, reusable products
  • Ask suppliers not to provide materials that are difficult to recycle eg. waxed cardboard, polystyrene and plastic shrink wrap
  • Ensure that you have a good material handling and storage program to avoid damaged goods
  • Laminate photocopies of plans to give to subcontractors to reduce losses of drawings
REUSE
  • Check whether materials can be re-used for another job; clean fill, formwork, common bricks, timber and moulding off-cuts
  • Take advantage of Waste Exchange, the on-line facility for buying, selling or transporting materials run by the Waste Board www.wasteboards.nsw.gov.au
  • Ask suppliers to take back extra packaging such as pallets, unused bricks or tiles
RECYCLE
ASK your waste contractor whether they can set up a source separated recycling service for you if you have room on site. If not, inquire into the feasibility of such a system
  • Consider recycling steel, bricks & tiles, concrete, soil, wood/timber, plasterboard
  • Buy/rent copiers and printers that will copy/print double sided
  • Inquire whether skip bins are taken off-site for sorting/recycling
BUY RECYCLED PRODUCTS
Collection of recyclable materials is only STEP 1. By purchasing materials with a recycled content, you are creating a demand for these products and strengthening the market. Ask whether the material is "recycled post consumer" - this means that it was manufactured using materials recycled by consumers rather than from manufacturing sources. Review your purchasing policies to ensure that they DO NOT exclude recycled content products. State to suppliers that you expect them to offer a range of recycled products. Examples of practical usage on a home building site of recycled materials include:
Crushed concrete: road base, drainage medium, filling sand
Crushed bricks: gravel, landscaping, drainage medium
Recycled plastics: ag pipe and stormwater pipe
Corrugated steel: concrete formwork TELL THEM ABOUT IT
  • Keep staff and sub-contractors up to date on waste minimisation efforts and results
  • Provide correct signage on bins to encourage staff to recycle
  • Be very specific with sub-contractors and make them aware of their responsibility to minimise waste
  • Include waste minimisation initiatives for staff induction and training
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
  • The Western Sydney Waste Board Recycling Directory (to find out who recycles what)
  • NSW EPA Construction & Demolition Waste Action Plan
  • TAFE NSW Minimising Construction & Demolition Waste Resource Package
  • Waste Planning Guide for Development Applications
CONTACTS: Michael Ryan, Councils Waste Project Officer on 9806 5688 or email mryan@parracity.nsw.gov.au, Western Sydney Waste Board on 9676 6299 or www.wswaste.nsw.gov.au, NSW Waste Boards at www.wasteboard.nsw.gov.au and NSW Environment Protection Authority on 131 555 or www.epa.nsw.gov.au. [an error occurred while processing this directive]