Site Waste Legislation & Information

Following the vote by the European Parliament in 2007 to beef up the EU Directive on recycling and waste, Member States are already applying the founding principles of proximity and self-sufficiency to their own national plans for waste management, impacting on all firms involved in demolition or construction.

In a bid to make the EU a world leader in terms of waste terminology, targets for the prevention of waste will have to be laid down for each Member State by 2010, and reached by 2020, stabilising waste production at 2008 levels within the next four years. MEPs have also introduced a seventy per cent target for recycling or reuse of waste from construction, demolition, industry and manufacturing reflecting the new hierarchy that has been agreed, which places reuse and recycling as the preferred treatment of waste.

With Europe currently producing around 2,000 million tonnes of waste each year these new regulations will bring increased paperwork and make all contractors more accountable for the entire site. But failure to comply will hit hard, with fines in the UK already set at up to £5,000, enforceable by both local councils and the Environment Agency. These fines are on top of other potential fines that companies may unwittingly incur, including those for unlicensed waste carrying, unlicensed landfill and fly tipping, which may be as high as £50,000.

In summary, the bare facts are extremely interesting and encouraging as far as site recycling is concerned. 

• Targets for waste to be laid down by each EU state by 2010
• Targets for waste to be reached by 2020
• Waste to be stabilised at 2008 levels by 2012
• Recycling for construction & demolition waste to be 70% by 2020

From April 2008 DEFRA Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) come into force for all building sites in the UK over £300k in value.

SWMPs, backed up by increases in waste and aggregates taxes, and other environmental controls, such as the growing use of the planning system to enforce policy will mean that on-site rubble recycling is set to boom.

Crucially, the new UK DEFRA Site Waste Management Plans are a means to asses this 2008 ‘baseline’ for future waste legislation – they are the start, not the end of legislation.

One cornerstone of the EU Directive waste management is the Proximity Principle, which states "waste should be managed as close as practicable to the point at which it is generated". Put simply, this means if construction managers can recycle on site, then they must - no arguments. The Proximity Principle is also reinforced by waste transfer legislation which means that, strictly speaking, if waste concrete and brick is moved from a site - even it’s taken back to base to recycle it - a waste carrier’s license is required. On top of this, planning authorities are increasingly using the planning process itself to dictate recycling.

So is this a crisis for the industry, an unmanageable burden on contractors, a punitive clampdown on construction, or a very expensive learning curve? Or is it the undercover saviour of developers, securing the future of constructors in a new world climate? 

Sometimes it takes a hard-line approach to enforce positive change and while the new laws will inevitably hurt some contractors in the short term, it is also a real opportunity for the industry to improve standards, increase accountability and meet market demands for sustainable development. While waste management requires a change of outlook, it is not a catastrophe – there are already solutions working on sites and available, which actually make the job less expensive.

Manufacturers including Digbits are investing heavily in developing new tools for compact concrete and rubble recycling. It’s just not good enough for us to simply produce a crushing machine – it has to work hard for the contractor – making life simpler and cheaper. By increasing the size of the hopper feed, developing patented designs to ensure personal safety on site, using hydrostatic jaw crusher systems, tailoring the size, weight and manoeuverability of the machine as well as removing the need for an operator to marshal the concrete on the latest BAVTRAK 025, Digbits has been able to overcome many concerns from contractors and develop a machine that offers a better solution to current methods.

The real problem facing the global industry is not the regulations, or a lack of affordable solutions, but the lack of awareness. For decades, larger developers, especially on brown-field sites, have had to take a 'whole site' approach to jobs. They investigate and evaluate risks below ground, such as contamination (for which the new owner of any piece of land assumes legal responsibility) of soil or watercourses and they also look at the potential risks above ground, such as asbestos or unsafe structures. They also know that, on larger sites they will generally be required to recycle any concrete and rubble and keep vehicle movements to a minimum.

On Site Recycling

Rubble and concrete crushing and recycling waste can reap many rewards such as:

• Produce usable fill from rubble and increase scrap value
• Reduce off-site vehicle movements
• Avoid transportation costs and hassle
• Save money on costly skips
• Avoid increasing environmental taxes

All BAV products are designed to help you comply with the Proximity Principle, which states that wherever possible, all waste should be processed at the point of origination.

A range of excavator mounted crushers, for diggers from 0.5 to 28 tonnes operating weight.

Crush concrete, clean and cut reinforcing wire for maximim scrap value.

Recycle on site using any digger - even a micro.

Compact, tracked micro and mini rubble crushers. from 750 to 2950kgs operating weight.

Small, lightweight and powerful concrete crushing and recycling solutions for modern, restricted job sites.