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Top five tips for minimising waste on construction sites Identify what you are trying to achieve in terms of waste management. Is it simply about cost saving or is there a bigger goal? Get all site personnel to buy into the scheme. Educate them about what goes to landfill from construction each year and what this means for our environment. Identify your recycling partners and talk to them to find solutions that will work for you. Clearly identify how you are going to implement waste minimisation onsite, which personnel are involved, where accountability sits and how you will record your results. Whatever system you choose: keep it simple and low tech. continues from page 17 A pilot show home in Havelock North built by Horvath Homes will be the subject of a case study to improve understanding of sustainable design and construction techniques. We talked to Horvarth Homes Managing Director Adam Horvarth about why they got involved and how they’ve been bitten by the waste minimisation bug. Q&A with Adam Horvarth How would you describe Best Home? “It’s a non-exclusive, best practice sustainable housing initiative between local government and the building industry” says Adam. “The initiative supports and encourages the design and construction of more energy efficient homes in New Zealand for minimal additional cost. It is an initiative open to the building and construction industry and all local authorities.“ How did Horvarth Homes get involved? “We have a drive to always be improving what we do and the standard of home we deliver. We had seen a real demand over the last few years for more sustainable options. When Hastings District Council first mentioned the initiative, we wanted to jump on board and be part of it, to lead by example.” For Best Home to be successful other builders need to get involved, how do you think you'll achieve this? “Our show home has only been open for a matter of weeks and we are already getting other builders showing huge interest in the scheme. I think it makes perfect sense for builders to get involved. The program is open to everyone and as an industry we can all share in the information and learning gained, instead of each individual company having to figure it out for themselves through a process of trial and error. I’ve been in the building industry for my whole working career and I can honestly say I have learnt more in the last two years through my involvement with Best Home than I have in the previous ten years. Just imagine if we can all share in our learnings how much the industry will improve.” In regard to reducing waste to landfill, what have you achieved? “The average weight of waste sent to landfill from a new build in New Zealand is around 5000kg. The Best Home in Havelock North created 2829 kg of waste. 95 percent of this was diverted for recycling with a meagre 133kg sent to landfill! We are incredibly proud of this achievement, which shows a real commitment by our whole team.” What were the key challenges in achieving this? “In the first instance it was really just recognising the enormous scale of what was being thrown away, it was actually pretty scary. We found that getting our team engaged with waste minimisation was relatively easy; it was really just about making a commitment, increasing the knowledge of those on site and putting procedures in place to support them.” Did it cost you a lot to divert the waste from landfill? “Actually the costs were negligible, especially when compared to the money we saved on disposal fees. I’m sure that it’s something everyone would do if they knew how.” Best Home is a registered trademark owned by Hastings District Council. For further information go to www. besthome.org.nz. For more information on Horvarth Homes visit www. horvarthhomes.co.nz. 18
VALUING OUR COMMUNITY ENTERPRISES By Sue Coutts, Manager, Wanaka Wastebusters Every summer thousands of holiday makers visit local community recycling centres like Xtreme Waste in Raglan, and Wanaka Wastebusters. So what is it that pulls them back year after year, when they could be surfing the breaks or boating on the lakes? The feedback community recyclers get from locals and visitors is overwhelmingly positive. Here is what they tell us: • they love knowing that their used goods will be passed on to someone who needs and appreciates them; • they feel confident that their recycling will end up as recycled content in new products; • they get satisfying answers to their tricky questions about how to reduce, reuse and recycle more effectively • they find solutions for their hard to handle products like polystyrene and e-waste; • and of course everyone loves finding a bargain that they know won’t cost the earth. First time visitors typically get dragged along by local friends or relations, who have convinced them it will be a lot more exciting than they expect. After that they find their own way back. One of the most common comments from visitors is “I wish we had something like this in our town’. Our customers totally get the benefits of dealing with community recyclers. Some councils do too. Central MAR 2013 \ 19
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