Tons of construction waste ends up in landfills every year, but with a good construction waste management plan sample, you can minimize the amount of waste you produce on your sites. Draft waste management strategies that are eco-friendly and compliant with environmental laws.
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In a report released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it was recorded that the U.S. produced over 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste just in 2018 alone. This is a particularly alarming number considering it is twice the amount of municipal solid waste generated annually.
Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), all construction companies have a responsibility to manage the waste they produce through proper planning and workforce training on environmental awareness. This is where a Construction Waste Management Plan Sample (CWMP) is essential. It provides comprehensive details on the volume and type of waste that construction sites generate, along with the appropriate waste management practices necessary to cut waste as much as possible. This process also includes the methods on how they will be reduced, reused, recycled, or disposed of.
The construction waste management plan should be drafted prior to the start of the project and continually updated throughout the process. The goal is to plan out proper waste management strategies, record the methods implemented, and promote accountability with documentation of every material that cannot be reused or recycled, including how they were properly disposed of at a legitimate site.
Essentially, a site waste management plan has four key objectives:
1. How to implement a waste management plan
2. The best practices of waste reduction
3. Benefits of a digital waste management plan
A good construction waste management plan sample is the first step to reduce waste effectively and sustainably. The key lies in crafting a structure for optimal waste disposal and management at every stage of your construction project.
Here is how you can do it:
One of the important parts of a waste management plan sample is the inclusion of best practices to actively reduce waste. This helps you stay on course with your objectives and provide your workforce with a guide on how to manage waste properly in all stages of the construction project.
One of the best ways to reduce waste is to prevent it from happening in the first place. You can do this by coming up with accurate estimates of materials during product sourcing. Not only does this result in fewer waste materials, but it also saves you money.
Here are some factors to consider during planning:
Deconstruction is the process of removing good materials from a building to be reused in a different project. This is a great way to minimize waste and maximize a material’s usability, especially for materials like reinforced concrete, wooden frames, and high-value materials like architectural moldings and hardwood floors.
When planning the materials you’ll use, try looking into eco-friendly, reusable materials like wood, metal, plastic, glass, and concrete. Doing this will leave you with recyclable waste instead of regular waste that will just get sent off to a landfill.
Recycling bins and waste receptacles should be readily available on the construction site and placed close to the areas with the most waste generation so workers can access them easily. This can make recycling easier than having to sort through bins containing multiple types of waste.
Wastes like lead, asbestos, and mercury are some of the hazardous wastes that construction sites produce. These can negatively impact the environment when not handled properly, so your organization should have appropriate protocols on correct hazardous waste handling and disposal.
The amount of waste produced each year on construction sites is unfathomable—600 million tons in the U.S. construction industry alone. It’s easy to improperly dispose of regular and hazardous waste to cut corners and save on time and money; however, it’s important we all do our part in keeping our planet safe and clean for the generations that will come after us. And this starts with a proper waste disposal plan.
Lumiform is a great way to keep track of your company’s waste management to avoid environmental fines and keep the worksite clean. With the mobile app and desktop software, you can establish a plan, ensure your employees are following through, and complete site inspections 40% faster than with old-fashioned pen and paper.
Digitized checklists from Lumifomr offer construction site managers the following advantages:
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