International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

Hong Kong
Industry surveying and interviews undertaken in Hong Kong on the effectiveness of
WMPs showed that the two main environmental benefits were thought to be:
1. Increased on-site reuse of materials, and
2. Increased waste reduction. 763
However, there was no actual quantification of these benefits in the associated
report.
England
Data available on the effectiveness of WMPs comes from the results of research
published by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA)
which found that implementation of a SWMP in England results in 15% less waste
onsite and 43% less waste to landfill. 764
Singapore
Waste statistics from 2007 show construction debris recycling rates in Singapore to
be 98%. Clearly this achievement is mainly driven by the severe lack of landfill
capacity but this was likely to have been influenced also by the requirement to
prepare management plans and the mandated role of ECOs. Unfortunately
quantifying the effect of ECOs in isolation is not possible.
With few country specific examples it is clear that there is an overall lack of data in
order to prove that the main outcomes listed above are actually taking place as a
result of WMPs.
This issue regarding lack of data could in part be related to the lack of policy
enforcement, which is discussed in Section 43.11. In addition, the data regarding
construction and demolition waste has tended, by and large, to be of poor quality in
many countries. The nature of the material is such that the re-use of material on-site,
or the management of material across multiple sites, tends to make quality data
gathering somewhat difficult. On the other hand, the plans themselves ought to be a
means of achieving better quality data, albeit perhaps only for projects covered by the
requirement.
43.6 Implementation Costs
The cost of implementation falls to the construction/demolition contractor who in turn
will pass some of the cost onto their customer.
763 V.W.Y. Tam (2007) On the Effectiveness in Implementing a Waste-Management-Plan Method in
Construction.
764 S. Coventry, B. Shorter & M. Kingsley (2001) Demonstrating Waste Minimisation Benefits in
Construction, Construction Industry Research and Information Association Publication C536.
637
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes