All you need to know about Site Waste Management Plans

Are you overseeing a construction or demolition project in the UK? If so, you may decide to implement a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) as a key resource efficiency tool.

Those involved in a UK construction project worth £300,000 or more were once legally required to complete a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP), with those requirements becoming even more detailed when the project’s worth reached the £500,000 mark.

Failing to implement an SWMP therefore ran the risk of prosecution for both individuals and companies, resulting in £50,000 penalties or on-the-spot fines. Although SWMPs ceased to be a legal requirement in December 2013, they can still bring a wide range of benefits for construction businesses.

Below, we have answered many of the common questions that people ask us about SWMPs here at Able Skip Hire Ltd.

What is a Site Waste Management Plan?

SWMPs were conceived with three main aims. The first is to promote efficiency and profitability through the promotion of the reuse, recycling and recovery of waste instead of disposal. They are also intended to reduce fly-tipping, via the keeping of a full audit trail of waste removed from sites and compliance with waste duty of care regulations.

Finally, your use of an SWMP also helps to make your workforce and management more environmentally aware. You are therefore advised to incorporate SWMP information into induction or environmental awareness training to ensure that everyone involved in your project is aware of their responsibilities.

Do I need a Site Waste Management Plan?

It was once a legal duty to complete an SWMP if a UK construction or demolition project met the aforementioned criteria in terms of project worth. All aspects of construction work – including preparatory work such as demolition and excavation – were subject to this requirement, as were civil engineering projects and projects that involved existing structures being maintained, altered and decorated.

The requirement for an SWMP also applied to the installation, maintenance or removal of such related services as electrical, gas, water, telecommunications and sewage. While, however, the maintenance of a structure required the completion of an SWMP, mere routine maintenance operations like grass cutting or gully cleaning did not.

Although the SWMP requirements have now largely been dropped, such a plan must still be completed for certain projects where there is a need to comply with the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification used in the assessment of the sustainability of buildings.

Who or what is responsible for a Site Waste Management Plan?

According to Defra’s guidance, it is the client’s responsibility to ensure the preparation of the plan prior to the commencement of construction work. The guidelines continue: “For many projects it will be appropriate for the designer to write the Site Waste Management Plan on behalf of the client, as this will assist in recording any decisions that have been taken at the design stage.”

The Principal Contractor should then be given this plan so that they can update it as work takes place, in addition to ensuring workers’ awareness of and cooperation with the plan. In accordance with this, appropriate site induction, information and training should be given. In turn, contractors should ensure that their employees and sub-contractors understand and achieve any waste management objectives that are laid out in the plan.

How can I implement a successful Site Waste Management Plan?

There is a wide range of elements that you may choose to include in your SWMP, ranging from a description of your project, address of the project and details of where your plan will be kept on site, right through to detailed waste estimates, waste records and a project overview.

Your plan may also include a cost savings estimate, along with information on any third parties that will be handling waste and what measures have been identified to minimise the quantity of waste produced during the project.

With SWMPs no longer a legal requirement, it may be tempting for your organisation to not implement one for its latest construction or demolition project. In practice, however, such plans remain of great use for a wide range of businesses looking to make more efficient use of their resources, while also ensuring the greater kindness of their waste management practices to the wider environment.

Contact our our team here at Able Skip Hire Ltd today for help with the creation of the right SWMP for your own construction or demolition business’s next project.

For homes and businesses alike, the appropriate disposal of hazardous waste is all-important. Hazardous waste can pose a great danger to the environment, which is why laws are in place to govern how it is disposed of and to prevent fly-tipping. But what exactly do you most need to know about hazardous waste, particularly to ensure that yours is safely disposed of?

How can I determine whether my waste is hazardous?

There are many different types of hazardous waste, typically classified as such on the basis of the damage that it is capable of causing to the environment. Waste that consists of certain hazardous components, but that is otherwise non-hazardous is also deemed hazardous overall. Common examples of hazardous waste range from unset concrete, asbestos and oil-based paints to car batteries, fridges and light bulbs – and we’ll explain in more detail below about how various forms of hazardous waste should be disposed of.

Why is it so bad to simply throw such waste into the bin?

While many people do throw hazardous waste into the bin or a skip, this creates an extremely high level of risk to the environment and local wildlife, and isn’t good for the health of humans either. This is due to the tendency of hazardous waste that is disposed of in this way to end up in landfills, with the dangerous elements in the materials potentially leaking into the ground and nearby water sources, through which they can get into the food chain.

Types of hazardous waste that you should be aware of

One of the most common categories of hazardous waste is spent engine oils and batteries, which it is very important to dispose of correctly due to the destruction that oil can wreak on natural habitats and water supplies. Indeed, it is the most frequently reported type of water pollution, with a mere 10 litres of oil capable of covering the entire surface of a one-hectare lake. There is also a broad range of ‘toxic products’ that are classified as hazardous, including weed killer, solvents, bleach, petrol and diesel. Small quantities of these can be disposed of at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC), but larger amounts will need to be dealt with by a licensed hazardous waste specialist. With an estimated hundreds of thousands of annual deaths said to be caused by acute exposure to toxic chemicals, it’s fair to say that the risks posed by them shouldn’t be underestimated. However, they are just some of the many examples of the hazardous materials that need to be disposed of responsibly, also including the likes of bonded asbestos products, unused paint and fluorescent lamps.

Always take hazardous waste disposal seriously

Remember that it isn’t just the environment, but also your finances that could take a hit as a result of the incorrect disposal of hazardous waste, given the hefty fines that can be imposed. Here at Able Skip Hire Ltd, we are unfortunately unable to accept hazardous waste items such as refrigerators, freezers, tyres, asbestos roofing sheets, unsealed oil or paint cans, due to the highly specialised requirements for the safe and legal disposal of such waste. If we do find any of the aforementioned types of waste in our skips, we will return them to you or an extra charge may apply. It is therefore important to contact your local council to ask for details about the best and safest way to dispose of these types of waste materials.

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