BLOG – Shane Davey – Recovery & Recycling Manager
Remember, it is your company’s legal obligation and duty of care under Section 34 of the Environment Protection Act to ensure that waste is dealt with correctly.
The responsibility for what happens to it or where it goes, is on every organisation in the value chain, regardless of whether services are contracted out.
On a development site, for example, with a mixture of inert, hazardous and non-hazardous soils, ultimate responsibility lies with the waste producers to ensure their waste is handled, transported and received by correctly licensed facilities. However, everyone in the chain is liable if there is a prosecution for non-compliance, including the developer, contractor, any sub-contractors and muck shifters.
Crucially, responsibility doesn’t end when an individual organisation transfers the waste. Mandatory digital waste tracking will therefore make it more important than ever to check that your waste is being managed responsibly once you transfer it to a licensed waste carriers. With digital waste tracking, any failure in duty of care along the waste chain will be more transparent.
Whilst it is important to know your legal and regulatory obligations, this should not be the only reason that organisations and governments are taking action. With increased scrutiny of environmental and social governance by investors, local communities, NGOs and the public, there are commercial and reputational benefits to maximising resource recovery.
With climate action a priority, there is a responsibility outside of regulatory drivers on every organisation within the construction supply chain – suppliers, developers, contractors and those responsible for managing and operating properties, including housing associations – to change their thinking on waste.
To help reframe waste as a resource, moving away from the traditional, linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model towards a circular economy. And, in the built environment in particular, to share their own data on recovery rates to ensure we have the transparency needed to drive effective change. The recovery and re-use of waste offers immediate opportunities. The tools and the solutions are available to use today, but we lack industry-wide motivation and transparency to maximise those opportunities.
