What waste does a construction site produce?

Inert waste is usually the biggest stream by tonnage. Concrete, bricks, blocks, tiles, ceramics, hardcore. It’s also the cheapest to dispose of, because it goes to inert landfill or, more often now, to aggregate recycling where it gets crushed and resold as Type 1 or 6F2. Mixing inert with non-inert in a single skip pushes the whole skip up to mixed construction rate, which is a multiple of the inert rate.

Wood comes off most sites. Clean wood (untreated softwood, formwork, pallets) goes to wood waste recycling as chipboard feedstock or biomass. Treated wood (painted, varnished, preservative-treated) is classed as hazardous and has to go to a permitted hazardous wood facility.

Plasterboard has to be separated. Since 2009, plasterboard has been banned from mixed landfill because the sulphate content reacts with biodegradable waste to produce hydrogen sulphide gas. It goes in a dedicated RoRo or skip and gets sent to a plasterboard recycler.

Metal is the one with resale value. Steel rebar, copper pipe and fittings, aluminium window frames, brass, lead flashing. A metal recycler will collect and pay rather than charge. Copper and lead in particular are worth keeping locked away on site.

Plastic packaging, mixed construction and demolition waste, soil (clean or contaminated), and various smaller streams round out a typical site. Asbestos, lead paint, contaminated soil and fluorescent tubes are all hazardous and need licensed routes.

What’s the typical bin spec for a construction site?

A small to medium site usually runs a general construction RoRo or two on swap-on-call, a separate plasterboard skip or RoRo (kept covered to stop water ingress), a scrap metal cage or skip with a locked store for copper and lead, hazardous waste storage if any of those streams are on site, and a soil stockpile area with separation between clean and any potentially contaminated material.

Bigger sites add an inert-only RoRo to keep the cheap material out of the mixed skip, and sometimes a dedicated wood RoRo if there’s enough volume.

Skip sizes go from 4 yard mini through 6 and 8 yard builders’ skips up to 12, 20, 30 and 40 yard RoRos. RoRos work better than skips for anything beyond a small refurbishment because the swap-out cost is lower per tonne.

What specialist streams do construction sites deal with?

Asbestos is the one to get right. Licensable asbestos work, which covers most ACMs you’d actually disturb, can only be done by a contractor licensed by the Health and Safety Executive under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Asbestos waste is hazardous and goes to a permitted asbestos disposal site with full consignment paperwork.

Contaminated soil needs a Materials Management Plan or testing under the WRAP CL:AIRE Code of Practice if it’s going to be reused, or licensed hazardous disposal if it’s going off site. Clean soil can sometimes be reused on the same site under the same code.

Lead paint, fluorescent tubes, oils and fuels from plant, and any chemical residues are all hazardous and need licensed routes with consignment notes.

What compliance pitfalls catch construction sites out?

CDM Regulations 2015 put the responsibility for managing site waste on the principal contractor, alongside everything else. That doesn’t prescribe the format of waste planning, but it does mean someone has to be in charge of it.

Site Waste Management Plans were mandatory in England between 2008 and 2013. The legal requirement was repealed but most major contracts and most public sector frameworks still require an SWMP as a contractual condition. The format is straightforward: forecast waste arisings, plan disposal routes, track actuals against forecast.

The plasterboard separation requirement under the Landfill Directive is the one site managers most often get caught on. Mixed skips containing plasterboard get rejected at the gate or get charged at the hazardous rate. Duty of Care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies to every transfer.