London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

to be so in to the future. However many of the recycling and reprocessing facilities for
these ‘soft’ wastes are located outside of London.
5.48. Such cost advantages relate primarily to the recycling and reuse of bulk ‘hard’ and
‘excavation’ wastes (including soils) from construction and demolition sites, although
there is also anecdotal evidence that these considerations also apply to the recycling of
the ‘soft’ wastes. Whilst in certain circumstances specific other materials (such as fireplace
surrounds, timber panelling, internal doors, lighting and wiring etc) may have a resale
value, this is generally outweighed by the labour time required to dismantle and
remove such goods. Whilst they may be valuable within the context of certain types of
smaller project, they become increasingly insignificant on large-scale projects.
5.49. One prominent demolition contractor considered that further improvements in waste
management within the sector would only be driven through legislative changes,
perhaps accompanied by fiscal instruments (e.g. the Landfill Tax). The same consultee
also noted that the data being recorded by companies was insufficient to provide a
useful basis for assessing waste management practices within the sector, but that this
could not be expected to greatly improve without stricter requirements to improve
current data collection.
Recommendation 48: It is recommended that consideration should be given to the
opportunities that exist to improve the gathering of C&D waste management
data, including cooperation with trade associations and discussions with the
Environment Agency with regard to incorporation into licensing requirements.
Consultations – Tools to Aid Best Practice
5.50. Whilst the efficient use of resources has always been an issue for the construction and
demolition industry in financial and practicality terms, measures and initiatives to
improve the environmental performance were probably best defined in 1998 with the
publication of the Egan report ‘Rethinking Construction’, followed by ‘Building a Better
Quality of Life – A Strategy for More Sustainable Construction’ in 2000. A number of
related groups then started to develop key performance indicators for the industry and
in 2003 Construction Excellence was formed, which brought together the following
sustainable construction sector groups into one body:
• The Housing Forum.
• The Local Government Taskforce.
• Building Services Best Practice.
• The Infrastructure Task Force.
• M4I.
• The Quality Mark Scheme.
• IT Construction Best Practice.
5.51. A number of trade bodies and institutes have advisors or panels that focus on
environmental and sustainable construction issues, such as the Construction Federation,
Institute of Civil Engineers, and the Construction Industry Environmental Forum.
Further organisations apply research effort and consultancy services to improving and
implementing sustainable construction, such as CIRIA, BRE and BSRIA. WRAP, whose
focus is to create markets for sustainable waste management, also has a significant
involvement in the construction and demolition waste stream.
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