There are nearly 4 million construction companies throughout the United States. Most of these companies use a vast amount of materials during the construction process, with a large amount of these materials going to waste.
We are living in an age of sustainability these days, and construction is an industry that needs to catch up in this regard. If you are a property manager trying to find a contractor to work with on a future project, then you’ll want to know what the most sustainable construction waste management practices are.
Let’s take a look.
What Are C&D Materials?
Before we take a look at sustainable waste management in the construction and civil engineering industries, let’s first take a quick look at the materials that are most commonly used in the construction process. These are known in the industry as C&D (construction and demolition) materials.
C&D materials are generated when new constructions or civil engineering projects are started, or when existing buildings are being significantly renovated and refurbished.
C&D materials are often heavyweight, bulky materials that you can find on a typical construction site. Exampled of C&D materials are:
- Concrete
- Timber
- Metals
- Bricks
- Gypsum
- Glass
- Plastics
- Asphalt
The State of C&D Materials in America
C&D materials represent a significant source of waste in America today. A large portion of these materials end up being sent to landfill sites throughout the country, but many of them are passed on to be used on subsequent construction projects.
According to a fact sheet from the EPA, there were nearly 600 million tons of C&D debris generated in 2018, which was more than double the amount of municipal solid waste generated that year.
According to the same fact sheet, demolition debris accounted for nearly 90% of C&D waste, with construction producing around 10%.
Three Tips for More Sustainable Construction Waste Management
Waste management is an important aspect of a modern construction site, and being able to dispose of their construction waste in a sustainable manner helps contractors stand out and help the environment while continuing to help their clients realize their projects.
Here are three tips for more sustainable waste management practices on construction sites.
1. Sustainable Design
The best thing that can be done to ensure more sustainable waste management practices is to make it a goal right from the beginning. It’s hard to be sustainable when working on a design that will produce a huge amount of waste.
If buildings are designed in a sustainable way, then that sustainability will work its way down the chain and lead to less waste during the construction process.
2. Environmentally Friendly Construction
Construction companies should be carefully considering the environmental impact of the materials that they are using in their projects. While it’s true that the use of environmentally harmful materials is well-regulated, it doesn’t hurt to go the extra mile.
Firstly, companies should make sure to use low-impact materials that have been sustainably sourced, or even better, reused or recycled from other construction sites and projects.
Contractors should also try to reduce their overall wastage by using equipment that can accurately weigh the materials being used so that they don’t end up with any waste materials at the end of the project.
Finally, they should have a robust and comprehensive training program in place so that their employees are adequately knowledgeable in the benefits of using sustainable materials and working toward sustainable practices.
3. Demolition/Deconstruction
As we’ve seen above, the vast majority of C&D waste is generated when buildings are being demolished. In order to produce a more sustainable waste management result, the focus should be shifted from demolition to deconstruction.
With demolition, it is a messy job and it is hard to salvage any usable materials from a demolished building. Deconstruction, on the other hand, allows for the removal of materials and structures that can be recovered for use in future building projects.
Complete deconstruction is not always possible for every building, but most structures allow for a degree of partial deconstruction before demolition can take place.
More Sustainable Construction Business Practices
Contractors and construction companies should strive to keep sustainability at the heart of their business. As such, there are a number of practices that they can engage in to help make their business more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Let’s take a look at a few.
Integration
The most important thing is that sustainability should be ingrained into the DNA of the business. Nobody should be going to work without it on their mind. All employees should be properly trained on sustainable materials and practices.
JIT Production
JIT stands for “just in time”. For most construction jobs, materials are ordered well ahead of time by estimating the amount of raw materials needed. This unsurprisingly leads to a large amount of waste.
JIT production is the inverse of this, where materials are ordered to exact specifications and only ordered when they are needed. This helps to keep waste down by making sure all the materials are being used.
Transportation
Finally, companies can look at their emissions when they are transporting materials and goods. More often than not, materials are hauled from yard to site using huge vehicles that emit a lot of carbon dioxide.
Contractors should strive to source as much local material as they can, as this cuts down the amount of time that these vehicles need to be out driving on the road.
