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Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment Proves Successful

10 March 2011

A Signatory Report 2011 on Halving Waste to Landfill commitment released by WRAP today showed very positive results with the first signatories who completed a one-year evaluation of their waste reduction performance significantly decreasing waste sent to landfill. The figures were collated from individual company data and represent considerable advance towards the industry target of halving more than an estimated 15 million tonnes of CD&E waste to be landfilled across the entire UK each year.

Halving Waste to Landfill, is an industry responsibility deal launched by WRAP in October 2008 to curb the amount of Construction, Demolition and Excavation (CD&E) waste the industry sends to landfill each year.

32 construction contractors participated in the evaluation. The companies mostly included UK's largest contractors and represented a total construction annual spending in excess of £21 billion over the reporting period. The group monitored and reported the annual performance of their CD&E waste through the WRAP Waste to landfill Reporting Portal.

The study concluded with the 32 companies showing a significant decrease of 28% in the CD&E waste sent to landfill between 2008 and 2009, that is a drop from 3.1 million tonnes in 2008 to 2.2 million tonnes by the end of 2009.

One of the key findings of the data collected threw light on the fact that signatories wasted less. The findings reported a decrease in the waste arising, which indicated that companies were proactive in taking action to prevent waste being produced. Signatories also employed a range of other measures like:

  • Using their procurement process to set requirements for their supply chains
  • Designing out waste
  • Reducing wastage rates with more efficient material delivery logistics, storage and handling on site
  • Recovering more waste through improved segregation
  • Working with more efficient waste management contractors

Lord Henley, waste and recycling minister, praised the dedication of those who signed up to Halving Waste to Landfill and said: "Architects, engineers and builders across the country are saving money and the environment by cutting down on throwing out valuable material."

He also urged those who are not yet involved to participate and raise to the challenge, adding: "Construction businesses, big and small, are now on board and making this happen, so I'd challenge those not yet involved to also step up and see the real value that halving waste to landfill will bring."

Krishna Buddhiraju