6.3 Construction Waste
6.3 Construction Waste
In the UK approximately 13% of material delivered to a construction site go the skip without being used. Annually, the UK produces around 400million tonnes of waste of which 72 million come from the construction industry, this is equivalent to about 1.45 tonnes for every person in the UK. In the USA by comparison, about 24% of solid landfill waste is generated by the construction industry. Up to 95% of construction waste is recyclable, and most is clean and unmixed. [see reference 5]
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Figure 6.2.1 Types of construction waste [see reference 7]
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The figure above demonstrates that the majority of construction waste is concrete. Not only is this very difficult to recycle (apart from as aggregate for more concrete) it also has a very high embodied energy.
Figure 6.2.2 Plaster board and cement in a skip on a construction site [see reference 7]
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Appendix 1 outlines different types of construction waste and their specific impacts.
Solutions to reduce impacts of waste in the construction industry, included an outline of the waste hierarchy will be examined later in the chapter.