Take a walk around any residential site and you’ll find different waste materials, from timber off cuts, metal piles of cement and bricks, and general rubble. All of this is classified as construction waste.
The WA Government has calculated more than half of the State’s 5.4 million tonnes of landfill waste was from building projects. To encourage industry to reduce, the landfill levy was increased from the 1st January this year.
Smart builders are implementing waste management strategies on-site to avoid this levy and reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. To help in the process, recovery facilities are available to assist builders in the war against waste.
Michael Norriss, Waste Consultant for the Master Builders, says, “The waste levy has increased the interest in better waste management practices.”
“It has highlighted the number of recycling options that are available for builders and creates an economic incentive for builders to choose waste management methods to stop waste going to landfill. I get to talk directly to the builders, subcontractors and suppliers and see the innovative recycling methods they are implementing.”
“The new landfill levy means that it’s now much better business to reduce, reuse and recycle rather than send waste to landfill. The industry is making big changes, with many builders cutting the total volume of waste down to about 10% of materials and then engaging specialist resource recovery services to reuse or recycle 80% of any waste – this can add up to as little as 2% of the materials used for a house build going into landfill.”
The resource recovery services are getting pretty smart too. They are helping builders to sort materials and doing deals with industry to take recycled materials.
In a little while, we’re going to show you the process of what happens with this waste, and what products are produced at the other end so stay with us with Part 2 coming up soon.
