News stories of the month
M&S strikes gold with BRE’s new SMARTWaste membership scheme
SMARTWaste membership scheme which provides organisations with a one-stop shop for preparing, implementing and reviewing Site Waste Management Plan’s (SWMP) on their developments.
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The construction and demolition sector currently generates more waste than any other sector in the UK, producing over 100 million tonnes of waste every year. The aim of the new scheme is to support organisations in reducing their waste outputs not only for the environmental benefit but also for their own business benefit. Beulah Keane, M&S Project Manager – Plan A & Sustainable Construction said: “All M&S
arks & Spencer is the first company to sign up as a gold member to BRE’s new
contractors have been reporting construction waste activity using BRE’s SMARTWaste Plan Tool since January 2008. We believe the use of SMARTWaste as both a measuring and tracking tool, and the format in which we capture SWMPs has helped to bring waste to life onsite and encourage the supply base to be more aware of the waste they generate. Signing up to a SMARTWaste gold membership package will allow M&S to receive the expert support and guidance from BRE’s Resource Efficiency team and help us to drive down waste on site”. The membership scheme demonstrates a complete
commitment by organisations wishing to deliver best practice site waste management plans, which are now a
‘R IS FOR RECYCLABILITY’
production since then is still in use today. An estimated 150 million tonnes of Aluminium is in use across the globe in anything from aircraft to façades to soda cans – this bank of material is stored for use by countless generations to come.
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The Aluminium economy is therefore a circular economy. For aluminium building products the metal is not actually consumed during the product’s lifetime, but simply used with the potential to be used again through recycling.
Aluminium can be recycled again and again without any loss of its inherent properties, since its atomic structure is
28| SUSTAINABLE FM | JUNE 2010
ince the 1880’s Aluminium has been recycled many times over, in fact 75% of its
not altered during melting. Therefore, the life cycle of an aluminium product is not the traditional “cradle- to-grave” sequence, but rather a renewable “cradle-to-cradle”. Aluminium scrap has considerable market value because most of the energy required for the production of primary Aluminium is embodied in the metal itself and therefore in the scrap. In fact the metal, which is up to 100% recyclable, takes only 5% of its original production energy in order to be recycled, with no loss of strength or integrity.
Specifying Aluminium in any project ensures that at the end of its useful life it will have a value and across Europe an average of 95% of the material is being recycled. The Council for Aluminium in Building actively supports the work of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) who is at the forefront of communicating the continuous improvements which are being made
legal requirement for all construction projects over £300k in England. BRE’s SMARTWaste membership scheme manager, Stuart Blofeld said: “We are absolutely delighted that a company such as M&S who is totally committed to delivering on sustainability through their Plan A programme has recognised the value that the SMARTWaste membership scheme can bring to an organisation like theirs in targeting and reducing waste arisings on construction projects”. For further information on the
SMARTWaste membership scheme go to
www.smartwaste.co.uk/ page.jsp?id=70 where you can download the membership scheme leaflet. Tel: 01923 664471 Email:
smartwaste@bre.co.uk
Remelting aluminium
in both prime material production and the increasing recovery and recycling rates from all uses of Aluminium. For more information on the International Aluminium Institute:
www.world-aluminium.org, for more information on CAB’s activities in the construction industry contact the CAB office on 01453 828851 or email
justin.ratcliffe@c-a-b.org.uk
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