Embracing Zero Waste: A Sustainable Future for the Construction Industry

As we celebrate International Day of Zero Waste, it's crucial to reflect on the importance of effective waste management and the risks of non-compliance. In the construction industry waste is particularly challenging to manage due to the large volumes and diverse types of materials involved.

The UK generated 59.4 million tonnes of non-hazardous construction and demolition (C&D) waste in 2020, accounting for 31% of the country's total waste. When accounting for excavation, that number jumps to a staggering 61%. It is estimated, that 32% of all UK landfill waste can be attributed to the construction industry alone. As such, the construction industry have a considerable responsibility to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to reduce waste wherever possible.

Effective waste management in construction not only helps in reducing environmental impact but also ensures compliance with regulations, minimise costs, and promotes sustainability. By adopting practices such as recycling, reusing materials, and proper disposal, the construction industry can significantly contribute to a zero-waste future.

Waste and the Risks of Non-Compliance

Waste management is a critical compliance challenge for businesses. With increasing global awareness of environmental issues, it’s more important than ever for businesses to take responsibility for their waste management practices.

Waste crime occurs when businesses conduct illegal dumping, damaging the environment by depositing hazardous waste in illegal locations. Not all waste crime is intentional, and a key challenge for companies is keeping ahead of legislation and ensuring their processes support compliance.

For the construction industry, poor waste management can carry massive organisational risks. Non-compliance with legislation can lead to legal, financial, and reputational damage that can have long-lasting, and sometimes irreversible, impacts.

Regulations and Compliance

In the UK, the Environment Agency is the primary regulatory body responsible for waste management enforcement. There are two key pieces of legislation:

• The Waste Regulations 2011
• The Environmental Protection Act 1990

To obtain waste permits and licenses, it’s a legal requirement for construction companies to comply with these regulations. Failure to do so can result in fines and the possibility of license removal.

Risks of Non-Compliance

If a fine or prosecution is raised against a company, it could lead to the removal of a license, meaning the company can no longer handle waste processes, which in turn can lead to commercial impacts. Moreover, with environmental and social clauses becoming more prominent in public procurement, a prosecution or fine for waste management non-compliance could lead to ineligibility for all future public tenders.

In recent years, 68% of contractors have reported increasing stakeholder demands for sustainable construction methods. A waste fine or prosecution is in direct opposition to those demands, and so the reputational damage would directly impact the bottom line of a construction business.

Mitigating the Risk

To mitigate the risk, construction companies should:

• Maintain audit trails of all waste transfer notes (WTNs) on a central database.
• Ensure all waste from operations is monitored – track what is being wasted, when, why, and where it ends up.
• Partner with responsible waste facilities that have high recycle rates to maximise diversion rates from landfill.
• Eliminate waste where possible and shift toward circular waste management processes.

Leveraging Data Commercially

When a site is completed, data can be used against BREEAM credits, in Considerate Constructor Scheme (CCS) audits, and to evidence environmental commitments in bids and tenders. Ultimately, you can leverage sustainability information to stand out from the crowd, improve your reputation, win more business, and eliminate the risks associated with waste non-compliance and waste crime.

How SustainIQ Helps

SustainIQ provides users with complete end-to-end waste management data reporting. Our software helps companies resolve waste compliance challenges by:

• Providing a set methodology for Site Waste Management plans.
• Centralising and holding all WTNs in one place, ensuring a complete audit trail is always available.
• Tracking waste diversion, waste material breakdowns, and total waste reporting on the analytics dashboard.
• Showing breakdowns for individual sites and company-level reporting.
• Offering waste forecast capabilities for a site or company level.
• Providing waste targets capability at site, company, and material-specific levels.
• Offering comparative reporting against forecast and actual waste.
• Alerting users when targets are off-track via our smart-informing system.

Using SustainIQ for waste management takes away the complexity of handling massive amounts of paperwork, meeting deadlines, and staying on track with all aspects of compliance. By ensuring all waste that is generated is logged on the system when it occurs, you can be rest-assured that you have data to uphold transparency and prove your commitments to being a responsible contractor.

Conclusion

Waste management and waste crime are critical issues for construction businesses. Despite the risks, opportunities exist to ensure your business is a leader in waste management excellence. By leveraging accurate sustainability data, you can stand out from the crowd and ensure you are seen as a transparent, responsible contractor that is leading the way for the industry.

To learn more about how SustainIQ can help your business achieve its sustainability goals, contact us today or book a demo here.