Module B1 Study Book - the Graduate School of the Environment

There is little doubt that initiatives such as pre-assembly and standardisation
are realising improvements within the industry which have waste avoidance
spin-offs, but realistically the mainstream industry is not addressing the issue.
The construction industry as a whole was awakened to the immediate costs
of waste disposal through the introduction of the landfill tax.
Ironically the landfill tax is unlikely to incentivise the building services industry
into action because of the relatively low volume, yet high value wastes
produced.
Dematerialisation, flexibility, pre-assembly and correct specification all
have an important role in streamlining building services to reduce wastes.
Additionally however, the more straightforward issues of coordination,
communication and buildability are more likely to have an immediate impact
on reducing waste in the majority of cases.
The wealth of solutions to address waste created through design reflects the
need to understand the reasons why wastes are generated in the first place.
Each design decision, which is responsible for creating waste needs to be
identified through the study of wastes arising before realistic designing out
waste solutions are actioned.
REFERENCES
Govt Statistical Service (1998). ‘Digest of Environmental Statistics’. No/20,
Government Statistical Service
CIRIA (1999). ‘Waste Minimisation and Recycling in Construction’; Boardroom
Handbook. CIRIA
Department of Environment Transport and the Regions (1998). ‘Opportunities
for Change: Consultation
Paper on a UK Strategy for Sustainable Construction’. HMSO
DOE (1995). ‘Making Waste Work – A Waste Strategy for England and Wale’.
DOE HMSO
Department of Environment Transport and the Regions (1999). ‘A Way
with Waste: A Draft Waste Strategy for England and Wales, Parts 1 and 2’.
DETR
Crittenden B, Kolaczkowski S (1995). ‘Waste Minimisation: A Practical Guide’.
IChemE
Trumble W, Frenette M (1998). ‘Nortel’s Green Design Research Project
Environmental
Telephone’. Northern Telecom Ltd. Ontario, Canada
Deaner M (1991). ‘President American Iron and Steel Institute’. Presentation
of the Bureau of Mines
Forum on Materials Use. Washington DC.
Turner R (1986). ‘Construction Economics and Building Design’. Van
Norstrand Reinhold. New York.
CIRIA (1998). ‘Waste Minimisation and Recycling in Construction’. Design
Manual, SP134-CIRIA,
London
Bunn R, Smith T (1999). ‘Egan – The Way Ahead, M&E Co-ordination’.
Building Services Journal
Bradley P (1999) in Bunn & Smith Article. Egan – The Way Ahead. M&E Co-
138 Paper: Waste Minimisation