How to dispose of waste on your build

Probably the last thing on your mind when contemplating renovating, extending or building your own home is the decidedly unglamorous subject of waste disposal. Yet even modest construction projects can generate prodigious quantities of rubbish, and when it comes to budgeting there’s a temptation to sweep the issue of cost under the financial carpet labelled ‘contingencies’, potentially storing up trouble further down the line. The real worry is that unless the tender documents clearly specify responsibility for disposal of waste, clients who’d simply assumed it was included in the contractor’s price could be in for an unpleasant surprise, finding themselves lumbered with extra costs that could easily escalate. To head off such problems before they arise there are three key questions that need to be asked before costing a project: who is responsible for disposing of waste, what is the best way to dispose of it, and how much will it cost?

Recycling: no longer a rubbish topic

Not so long ago the subject of ‘recycling’ was regarded as something of an irrelevance on construction sites. Today, with significantly higher costs of disposal and better environmental awareness, there’s much greater scrutiny on how waste is dealt with. Waste generated by the construction industry contributes around a third of all the rubbish that ends up in landfill. Excessive packaging of building materials is one of the biggest culprits, but despite widely publicised concerns over single use plastics, there is regrettably little sign of the volume of packaging diminishing. Environmental concerns aside, probably the most pressing question this raises for builders is how to prevent waste