Waste & Resources Action Programme
(WRAP)
Each year, the construction industry is
responsible for some 120 million tonnes of construction, demolition
and excavation waste. In the UK alone, around 25 million tonnes
ends up in landfill sites each year, without being recovered or
reused. But Longhurst Group has transformed its own practices, by
working in partnership to substantially reduce waste on development
sites.
The Government’s Strategy for Sustainable
Construction aims to minimise environmental impact. This includes
halving the amount of construction waste going to landfill within
four years. WRAP’s subsequent ‘Halve waste landfill by 2012’
campaign established a voluntary agreement framework which
encourages the construction industry to publicly support and
delivers the national target.
Working with WRAP and Davis Langdon, Longhurst Group was one of
the first five associations nationally to sign up to the campaign.
This involved amending contractor and consultant frameworks to
minimise building waste on development sites. The revised approach
involves specialist contractors collecting waste from sites and
taking it to a transfer station. At that point, any contaminated
waste is separated out, as it isn’t suitable for recycling. The
remaining waste is sorted by hand into batches such as wood,
bricks, wiring, plasterboard and packaging. Finally, each batch of
sorted materials is taken away for recycling. The results have been
astounding; around 80 per cent of construction waste is now being
recycled on some sites.
Please click on the images to enlarge