Halving Waste to Landfill

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1 Case study: BAM Construct Halving Waste to Landfill BAM Construct UK was one of the first contractors to sign up to the Halving Waste to Landfill industry commitment in Since then, BAM has been working with WRAP to reduce waste to landfill and continually improve its waste management. As part of this, the company has set and achieved high waste and recycling targets, developing a new data gathering tool which has brought substantial improvements in monitoring and reporting, and embedded good practices throughout its supply chain. Company Profile Courtesy of BAM Construct. Chiswick Green BREEAM Excellent building currently underway Sustainability is important to BAM Construct s ethos, so signing up to the Halving Waste to Landfill commitment was a natural step for us. It has helped us progress our waste reduction agenda, enhancing our reporting and helping us procure for waste reduction Charlie Law, Environmental Manager Key Accomplishments and Savings 85% diversion of waste from landfill in % reduction in waste to landfill [from 2008 baseline] 13% reduction in waste arisings in 2010 [from 2008 baseline] Implementation of company-wide waste data collection system Reduced reporting time and increased accuracy Introduction of contractual requirements for contractors waste management BAM Construct UK Limited (BAM) is one of the UK s largest construction services organisations. It is part of the European Royal BAM Group, consisting of 25 companies around the world with employees totalling 28,000. BAM Construct works across England, Scotland and Wales. The company covers the education, retail, mixed use development, health, office, leisure and law order sectors, with an average annual turnover of approximately 1 billion. This case study is one of a series examining how companies are implementing the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment and what they have achieved in terms of resource efficiency and waste reduction. Halving Waste to Landfill With a strong focus on responsible business, BAM was keen to play their part in reducing waste and the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment provided the perfect opportunity. The company s philosophy is focused on working closely with their supply chain to consistently deliver good sustainability outcomes. The Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment sets five waste reduction steps: Setting a waste reduction target Embedding the target in corporate policies and procedures Embedding these in project and supply chain requirements Measuring performance against a corporate baseline Reporting annually on performance.

2 These steps tie in well with BAM s goals to reduce their waste arisings and waste to landfill, as well as to report annually and continually improve its performance. BAM collects data on the environmental performance of every aspect of the business. This information allows it to identify problems and good practices so these can be shared across the group. It also helps reduce the amount of waste produced and ensures the Company is reusing and recycling as much waste as possible. Combined, these measures help to meet the Halving Waste to Landfill target. Waste reduction targets BAM set a target to halve the amount of waste they sent to landfill by 2012, in line with the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment. To help them progress towards this goal, it set year-on-year targets for reducing its waste to landfill, Diversion of waste from landfill Year Target % % % % During 2010, BAM achieved 85% waste diversion from landfill. As a result of their strong focus on waste over , BAM has been able to achieve their initial halving waste to landfill target two years ahead of schedule. waste forecast and project-specific targets and actions for waste reduction and recovery; 2. provide the SWMP to the client before starting on site and on completion of the project, reporting forecast and actual performance; 3. report the quantity of waste produced and the quantity of waste sent to landfill, in m 3 / M construction value; 4. meet or exceed 75% recovery of construction, demolition and excavation waste; and 5. increase material value derived from reused and recycled content in new build. For BAM properties a 15% recycled content target was set. Engaging the supply chain on projects It s not only important to collect data, but to make use of it once you ve got it. To make the system work requires communication, motivation and a clear vision for how to progress. Working with WRAP, BAM has developed a clear strategy and process for waste reduction. To help roll out the commitment and requirements to BAM s supply chain, BAM has used the WRAP procurement guidance. This set of template procurement documentation, developed by WRAP, BAM, and other UKCG members, provides wording and guidance to help organisations set procurement requirements for waste reduction. BAM contractually required its subcontractors, suppliers and waste contractors to play an active role in helping to improve materials resource efficiency to minimise the environmental impacts of its waste, and to ensure compliance with the Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) Regulations. Subcontractors are required to: provide an estimate of predicted waste types and volumes to feed into waste forecast (if involved from the early stages of the project) provide details of the specific materials resource efficiency methods they will employ on the project to help reduce waste. meet or better agreed waste production levels, as Embed targets within corporate policy and processes BAM have used the WRAP core requirements, a summary of industry best practices developed by WRAP in consultation with the UKCG and other industry organisations, as a guide for setting targets and requirements in corporate policy and processes: 1. implement a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) from an early design stage, to include a a percentage of the final fixed product quantities, for certain packages. divert at least 80% of construction, demolition and excavation waste arising from the works from landfill via reuse, recycling or recovery (BAM have a long term target of zero non-hazardous waste to landfill). use reclaimed products and materials, and products and materials with a high recycled content, wherever feasible

3 monitor and report at least weekly on the waste arisings and the destination of the waste re-use, recycling, recovery, landfill and other, and, in the case of re-use, recycling and recovery, whether this has taken place on- or off- site. Impact on BAM s projects In 2009 BAM began building the Leeds University Earth and Environment Building. The project consisted of a 8m new build and a 11m refurbishment project. The project was designed to be a sustainable building, reflecting the ethos of the university as a leader in environmental research. Best-practice waste management, and re-using existing materials on site were key priorities for the client. As such, BAM needed to ensure the construction phase met these aspirations in a timely and costeffective manner. By implementing good practice actions, BAM was able to go beyond its 75% diversion from landfill target to achieve a diversion rate of 84%. In terms of waste production, this equated to 143m 3 / M. The waste actions BAM undertook included: Used Designing Out Waste principles to re-design basements and substructures to avoid an estimated 450m³ of waste being taken off site. Worked with suppliers to select low-waste materials (e.g. pre-cut perimeter steel), and to have suppliers store leftover materials for reuse (e.g. plasterboard). Re-use of existing screed saving an estimated 600m3 of waste. Segregated waste on site so that waste streams such as timber could be easily sent to community schemes for re-use. Using waste contractors who could deliver high recycling rates on mixed waste (which was checked by a second-party). Courtesy of BAM Construct Leeds University Earth and Environment Building Measuring performance: the importance of data As part of its waste and recycling programme, over the past couple of years BAM has developed a way of collecting waste and environment data from their projects, giving accurate, reliable data that can be easily aggregated for their waste reporting. BAM was keen to develop a centralised, online tool to help monitor environmental performance in the key areas of waste production, CO2 emissions, water use and timber sourcing. BAM also wanted to capture the increasing number of sustainability requirements now included in projects such as EPC ratings, BREEAM scores, and sustainable technologies. Working alongside the Building Research Establishment (BRE), BAM developed a system that has the capacity to deal with large volumes of data in a reliable and user-friendly way.

4 With the introduction of their online Sustainability Monitoring and Reporting Tool, BAM SMaRT, in 2010, BAM is now able to measure waste returns as a yearon-year process more efficiently, as well as at the end of each job. Data is collected for every project, and held in the central system. The online system makes it easier for the Site Manager to collect the data for their project, saving valuable time and increasing accuracy. The new system enables real-time analysis, identifying good practices early on which can be shared and adopted company-wide. Before BAMSMaRT, the information we recorded was put into individual Excel spreadsheets. It was quite a laborious process, taking at least two hours each month. Now, it s about half an hour. Laura Hatfield, BAM Site Secretary for University of Strathclyde Biomedical project and Glasgow Royal Infirmary Intensive Care unit. Reporting To help record and demonstrate good work on reducing waste to landfill, BAM report into the Halving Waste to Landfill reporting portal. This reporting portal enables construction organisations to report independently on their performance on waste, aggregate and analyse their corporate figures, and anonymously benchmark their performance against the datasets of their peers. BAM regularly report construction, demolition and excavation waste (separately) into the portal. This enables BAM to run reports to keep track of their performance against corporate targets. BAM regularly report construction, demolition and excavation waste (separately) into the portal. This enables BAM to run reports to keep track of their performance against corporate targets. Benefits Having delivered excellent diversion from landfill during construction, BAM s next focus is on preconstruction waste reduction. Now that we are consistently doing as much as we can on site, we are focusing on getting waste reduction into design, says Law. BAM Construct has already begun using the WRAP Designing out Waste guidance to help reduce waste during the design process: Design for Reuse and Recovery; Design for Off Site Construction; Design for Materials Optimisation; Design for Waste Efficient Procurement; and Design for Deconstruction and Flexibility. BAM s design company, BAM Design, have held a series of WRAP workshops to bring designers up-tospeed with the WRAP Designing Out Waste Tool and the Net Waste Tool so that project teams can make use of these free resources when delivering projects. For us, signing up to Halving Waste to Landfill has been great. We have developed a world-class system for waste and environment reporting and, with WRAP s help, have been able to set procurement requirements to get our supply chain to help us achieve our targets. Charlie Law, Environmental Manager Lessons Learnt Designing out waste in the first place is vital to resource efficiency Good data is key investing in a good reporting tool brings great returns To consistently achieve good performance on waste requires knowledge sharing across the company.

5 Next Steps Following on from their strong performance to date, BAM has great plans for the future. With a clear corporate strategy of continual year-on-year improvement, and a group-wide target of Zero nonhazardous waste to landfill by 2015, the company will continue to develop new and innovative practices. Waste reduction will continue to be a key focus area for BAM as it rolls out the Designing Out Waste and Net Waste tools to its teams. This will be linked to the company-wide knowledge sharing to ensure the principles are embedded on all projects. In addition, BAM identify the need to continually engage sub-contractors so its supply chain can help support waste reduction goals. Now that BAM has incorporated waste management requirements as standard into its procurement documentation, this will be followed up with pre-start meetings and other information sessions to ensure all suppliers are aware of the requirements. Acknowledgements WRAP would like to thank BAM Construct UK for providing time and data, and assisting in the production of this casestudy. Further material For more information, visit You can access: a range of other exemplar and cost benefit case studies; procurement guidance and model wording; the Net Waste Tool (free online tool for assessing waste arisings on construction projects); WRAP s Site Waste Management Plan Template; and guidance on Designing out Waste. Courtesy of BAM Construct: Site waste management While steps have been taken to ensure its accuracy, WRAP cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. For more detail, please refer to our Terms & Conditions on our website: