how-to-control-the-risks-and-the-costs-v3

4 How to Control the Risks and the Costs of Waste Management
5
Keeping skips and waste containers
in good condition
Landfill tax and other avoidable
costs of waste
Faulty or damaged skips and
containers pose a major health and
safety risk on site. Site operatives
should be aware of how to
judge the condition of skips and
containers, and how to identify
potentially dangerous faults.
For skips, this includes the
welding on external corners and
edges, whether internal welding
is required (for extra heavy duty
skips), the reinforcement of upper
edges, the design of lifting lugs,
and the condition of locking
devices on drop-down doors.
For waste containers, it includes
the welding of key elements,
reinforcement of high stress areas
in extra heavy duty containers,
the strength and design of locks,
the reinforcement of upper edges,
and the strength of door holdback
restraints. Containers for hook
loaders should have subframes
designed and built to the correct
industry standards.
While you aren’t legally required
to examine skips under Lifting
Operations and Lifting Equipment
Regulations (LOLER), you do need
to ensure they are in good repair
under Provision and Use of Work
Equipment Regulations (PUWER).
Lifting equipment for skip loaders
and hook loaders needs to be
inspected by a competent person
once a year under LOLER.
Faulty skips and containers should
be removed from site, whether
for repair or disposal. While there
are no mandatory standards
for skips and containers, the
Container Handling Equipment
Manufactures Association (CHEM)
has developed voluntary industry
standards.
The Waste Industry Safety &
Health Forum (WISH) has also
produced a guide to skip and
container safety, which includes
safety checklists and a guide to
relevant legislation and standards.
Did you know that waste
management and disposal can
cost the equivalent of 30% of pretax
profits, and that the true cost
of waste can be over £1,000 per
skip when you factor in wasted
materials and labour? And the
more waste you send to landfill,
the more you pay in landfill tax.
Don’t just think of waste
management as a cost to
be minimised. Good waste
management planning will save
you money in the long run — for
example, it might actually be more
cost effective to hire extra skips
and segregate more waste on
site, thus sending less to landfill.
Research shows segregating
waste on site, rather than later on,
means more gets recycled and
less gets sent to landfill because
of cross-contamination. Carefully
loaded, segregated waste can fill
a skip much more efficiently than
mixed waste, too — helping you
save on skip hire.
Ultimately, embedding the
principles of the waste hierarchy
into your working practices
will lead to greater long-term
efficiencies and savings. And the
more experienced you become
with this approach, the more costeffective
it will be to implement it.
Don’t choose your waste
management provider based
on price alone. Less scrupulous
suppliers may undercut
competitors by failing to pay for
permits, dodging tax, ignoring
environmental best practice — or
worse — dumping waste illegally.
Instead, adopting an open and
collaborative approach with an
expert waste management firm
can allow you to make the most
of their capabilities, yield more
savings in the long run, and
enhance your firm’s reputation.