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April 9, 2008

War on waste: site plans now compulsory

As part of the Government drive to reduce waste in the UK, from this month Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) are required on all construction projects over £300,000.  Only construction projects planned before 6th April 2008 and where the works begin before 1^st July 2008 are exempt.

TRADA has produced a new Construction Briefing to summarise the new requirements. ‘ With construction the biggest raw material user and waste producing industry sector, accounting for some 30% of all material used and disposed of, it is inevitable that Government strategy will focus on this sector,' said Regulations Consultant Rupert Scott. ‘However, there are many separate sources of guidance on this topic, which can make it difficult to know where to start. The purpose of our briefing is to provide background commentary on SWMPs and to set them in the context of other government-driven actions affecting construction.'

In simple terms, a SWMP is a structure for methodically managing waste at all stages of a project. ‘It will force contractors and clients to think about, record and monitor the actions they take to reduce, re-use and recycle waste,' Mr Scott added.

‘According to defra's Waste Strategy for England 2007, the construction industry in England and Wales uses about 400 million tonnes of raw materials and produces 109 million tonnes of waste annually. There are some disagreements over these figures, but the fact remains that the numbers and percentages are very large indeed.'  Government would like the construction industry to sign up to a goal of halving the volume of waste sent to landfill by 2012. ‘Site Waste Management Plans are a positive step in this direction.'

The project cost is defined as the price agreed by the contractor and client in the tender.  If there is no tender the cost must include labour, plant, materials, overheads and profit but not VAT. If the cost of the project goes over £300,000 once work has started, however, then there is no requirement to produce a SWMP.  ‘This could be seen as a loophole unless carefully monitored,' Mr Scott warned.

With an SWMP in place, within three months of completing the work, the principal contractor must confirm that the plan has been monitored regularly and explain any deviations.  For projects over £500,000 the principal contractor must additionally:

• Compare estimated quantities of each waste type against the actual
• Estimate the cost savings achieved
• Provide a copy to the client.

Enforcement is firstly by Local Authorities, with larger offences dealt with by the Environment Agency.

To view TRADA's Construction Briefing click here

For full details on the regulations visit http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20080314_en_2

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