Construction Waste Management is the practice of reducing the actual waste that go to the dump site. Waste reduction is best met by recycling and construction wastes do offer a lot of opportunities for recycling. In fact, 80% of the wastes found in construction trash heaps are recyclable, one way or another. Wood, asphalt, concrete, bricks, metals, glass and even paint do offer several options for recycling.



There are three basic steps for construction waste management. They are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Reduce is basically preventing waste from appearing. So it helps if those building materials come in with preplanned sizes. Or you could design using standard sizes. Either way one help of eliminating the cuttings would be optimizing material usage by Reduction. Less waste and less expense, right? Waste reduction also includes future waste disposal practices. By using bolts instead of glues you can reuse everything: wood and bolts.

Reuse is using the existing materials instead of throwing it away. That does not include only building materials. Pipes, ceiling fixtures, bath fixtures, lamps, electrical sockets, even furnishings like vanities, bath tubs, shelves, cabinets all these can be used to some extent. Reusing does not mean YOU have to use it. Donating it to non profit organizations is one noble option of construction waste management. Some government institutions even take a cut of your tax per value of your donated materials.

Recycle is somewhat limited since it only allows those items that you can really use. Material Recovery Facilities like those in Puget Sound are the best option for those recyclable materials that you can never use. These MR Facilities have a 99% recycling capabilities, meaning they can make use of most construction waste. The only let down of such organization is they also pay the lowest fees; most of the time they even take some materials for free. But still, the point for this is construction waste management. Landfills are also one option for recycling of organic waste materials, though it is not the best option.

So is there any point for construction waste management? Yes there is. It can reduce costs by reusing scrap materials found in heaps. Another cost reduction is from optimizing building materials by getting it in preplanned sizes. And while this may sound too cheesy, construction waste management will make our mother earth proud. Hah, too cheesy indeed. Still, construction waste management is way to go.