How Do You Identify the Best Practicable Environmental Option for Construction and Demolition Waste?

It has recently been estimated that 72 million tonnes of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste arose in 1999 in England and Wales accounting for approximately 20% of total waste arisings. Of this 35% is estimated to be recycled. Improving the efficiency of the construction and demolition industry is a key objective for the UK Government, with the publication of a strategy for more sustainable construction. Much of the current attention is focused on waste arisings through the construction and demolition processes, with little focus on deconstruction and materials reuse. The Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) is a tool advocated by the UK Government for making waste management decisions emphasising that the waste hierarchy of reduce, reuse, recycle, recovery and finally disposal cannot be applied without taking into consideration, environmental, economic and social impacts. This paper concentrates on a theoretical BPEO model that has been developed for C&D waste. Data has been obtained on waste arisings and causes from BRE’s waste auditing software, for a range of construction and demolition projects including housing, offices, retail, restaurants and the leisure sector. This data, when combined with other relevant data and surveys forms the baseline scenarios for determining the BPEO for the C&D waste stream. The evaluation of potential waste management routes for the identified 10 key C&D waste groups (concrete, inert, packaging, timber, ceramics, plastics, plaster and cement, metals, insulation and miscellaneous) is currently being undertaken. Life Cycle Assessment will be a key tool in identifying the impacts and a number of criteria including the ability to provide on-site solutions, improve resource recovery, reduce environmental and social impacts, improve productivity and reduce costs will be used.