Construction waste
How many of you have passed skips and seen new building materials thrown away by the construction industry? They have fallen into the trap that many materials for the construction of buildings are cheap to produce and not so cheap to recycle or reuse. This is part due to the way materials are sold in massive packs when there is a need for a few. Bricks and insulation sheets are prime examples of this. The normal practice is to purchase pallet loads with any ‘overs’ being either used in foundations or sent to landfill. It is a practice that is costing both resources and landfill space which are fast running out.
So what is to be done? There are small charities (view recyclingconsortium.org.uk and resourcefutures.co.uk for information of local groups ) around the country who are collecting overs from building sites and recycling them back to the industry or the general public. They offer the use of skips or man and a van who will collect any materials they know can be recycled. This is great news but we do need the whole industry to sit up and look at recycling the materials so quickly skipped and shipped to landfill sites.
It will take a huge effort to move the giant that is the construction industry. Some of the larger firms have been working to reduce their carbon footprint but there are many more who just skip and burn. Even wood can be collected and chipped for wood heating systems or used for home projects. I have gained permission to remove items from skips resulting in a good stock of 0-carbon firewood, shelves and section of a shed. The use of materials destined for landfill is good for the environment, our pocket and satisfaction of a job well done (Unless me where I do try but efforts result in interesting products) One word of caution is that any item that is in the skip belongs to the builder until collected by the landfill operator who then takes ownership. Removal of any item from any skip without permission is theft, so please ask, as most builders are more than happy to help.
May I suggest that people get in touch with their MP to start to push through an agreement which gives guidelines to the construction trade about ways to reuse, recycle and reduce.
December 18th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
even traditonally in india we have used our waste in extremely aesthetic ways. broken china, tiles etc were used as part of mosaic flooring in goan homes. (homes in goa, a south western state in india)
when a building is going to be broken all the windows doors, fitments etc are bought by what we call kabariwalas (i shall ask suparna for a translation) and resold to people who cant afford new stuff.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:32 am
I wish I could say the same but, alas, we have a throw away and buy new move who have forgotten how things were before the 1960s. There is a move now to make and mend from reclaimed materials but it will need a massive mind set change. Please let me know more so that I can get it on the pages.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
hey but you guys have second hand stores, thrift stores, second hand furniture markets right?
what happens to all the appliances, furniture etc where does it go? i mean there cant be that few poor people even in britain nah? but actually with the coming of the japanese cars into the market the whole indian attitude to cars has changed . earlier our cars were around for atleast 30 years. i mean we had a morris minor that my grandad gave my dad and we didnt let it go till 1986. it was so much a part of hte family that we all wept when the guy came to buy it. so it was first of all third hand and worse it was well over 35 years. my dad spent quality time under its bonnet every weekend willing it to work for the coming week. now we all buy cars for three years and god forbid anything goes wrong with it, the idiots who are supposedly called engineers only know how to change a part and cant even be bothered to repair. very bad jap attitude. luckily we have so many mechanics across the lenght and breadth of this country who dont think like this. u really should come for a holiday.
December 24th, 2007 at 8:54 am
The throw away society must end or we have no future. Yes we do have second hand stores but people seem able to take things to the tip rather than the charity shops. It was once seen as below too many people where as now more trendy people use them which help! As for buildings…it is cheaper to burn, land fill and crush modern buildings as, unlike older quality buildings saved for salvage, they are cheap to build and cheap to knock down with terrible carbon footprints. One day I hope we will reuse as we have been doing for many generations before industrialisation.