Infrastructure and civil engineering projects present significant opportunities for waste minimisation, re-use and recycling. Designing out waste in these sectors not only makes economic sense but it should be a sustainable environmental cornerstone of any well designed project.

All good project design presents opportunities to remove waste from the construction and civil engineering landscape, where large quantities of high value materials provide a basis for significant cost savings and environmental benefits.

There are a number of key principles that a good project design should consider at the pre-construction phase, not least, preparing a site waste management plan which gives consideration to;

• Materials Reduction, Reuse and Recycling

• Off Site Construction

• Material and Supply Chain Optimisation

• Procurement Strategy

• Post construction

These basic principles act as a catalyst, providing a basis for technical solutions which should seek to ensure that waste minimisation opportunities are maximised.

Materials Reduction, Reuse and Recycling

The re-use of materials from both the natural and built environment underpins the sustainable management of construction projects and reduces the burden on the environment.

Construction of the surrounding landscape provides many opportunities for re-use of demolition material, recovery and reuse of materials from the existing hard landscape and / or recovery of a variety of materials from the soft landscape.

Good project design will consider where;

• materials from demolition of existing on-site structures can be re-used or recycled in the surrounding landscape design

• materials from the clearing of the existing surrounding landscape can be reused in the landscape design

• maximum value is being obtained from the re-use of valuable materials from the existing landscape

• excavated materials can be re-used or recycled for landscape features (use materials as a paving, walls, tarmac, concrete and aggregate rubble can all be used for sub-foundation, drainage base or infill for new landforms)

Soil analysis should be undertaken prior to any demolition or construction works to identify types and quantities of potential re-usable or recyclable materials for retention on-site. Setting aside good quality, high value materials from the existing landscape for reuse or re-sale is common sense and good practice.

Good top-soil is a highly valued commodity and should be graded and stockpiled for re-use. Excavated rocks can be used for drainage layers, landscape infill or ornamental landscape features. Read more...