Construction Waste Management

Natalie Reyes
3 min readFeb 10, 2020

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Construction projects, whether it be the construction, demolition, rehabilitation of buildings or roads, involve a lot of debris and waste once they are over. Typical waste and debris may include concrete, bricks, steel, ductwork, clean dimensional wood, paperboard and plastic used in packing, and etc. Unfortunately, a lot of this waste coming from construction sites may possibly end up in landfills.

In order to avoid this from happening, construction waste management is now a practice that is encouraged by both the government and the construction industry. Construction waste management is the process of eliminating waste where possible, minimizing waste whenever it is feasible, and reusing materials. While the commercial construction companies are expected to have an actual solid waste management plan, not all of them are able to put great care in waste management plans, especially those that involve huge companies.

Here are some types of waste management that construction companies can consider:

Skips and Waste Removal

This kind of waste management involves building sites usually having massive bins or skips that have access doors on them. Skips are dropped off at the site and used to collect and remove waste that is generated. They are normally stored either on the building site or just a little off the site in a position that won’t cause a problem.

Minimizing Waste

This is the most practical way of managing waste for construction sites. Builders can also employ many different measures to minimize the amount of waste that is produced. Even the suppliers have a role to play too, either by supplying at the last minute to help reduce the amount of packaging or by agreeing to take back the leftover materials.

Waste Incineration

Waste incineration is an alternative to landfills. Incinerators use the process of combustion to convert waste materials into carbon dioxide and water. The only downside to this kind of waste management is that not all materials are combustible. Moreover, safety precautions must always be ensured when handling waste incinerators in order to avoid harm to the operator and the risk of fire.

Characterizing and Segregating the Waste

This kind of waste management is easier and can be handled by all construction companies. The identification of wastes produced from projects is an important step in developing a construction and demolition waste management plan at the project level. The wastes are usually categorized as those that pose risk and danger to health and those that are benign. Construction companies can hire industrial hygienists who will perform waste characterization studies and identify components where present risks to human health and the environment.

Recycle and Reuse

Even the materials in construction can be reused such as doors and windows in a good, resalable condition. They can substitute for new products or be donated or sold for use on another project. This kind of waste management is plausible and appealing to builders who focus on sustainability and efficiency. This may include training sub-contractors to categorize and separate waste on-site to ensure that the reusable materials won’t be disposed of. Some materials that can be reused and resold are picture rails, skirting boards, doors, ornate windows and frames, light fittings, and many more.

For more information on access doors or any other construction projects that you need help with, visit https://www.bestaccessdoors.com/ now.

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Natalie Reyes
Natalie Reyes

Written by Natalie Reyes

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1–800–609–2917 Visit Us here: https://www.accessdoorsandpanels.com/ 1–800–483–0823 Visit Us here: https://www.bestaccessdoors.com/

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