SUSTAINABILITY WASTE NOT WANT NOT


Unless you’ve had had your head buried in the sand in recent years, you can’t have failed to notice that plastic is the new bogeyman. And single-use plastic is the biggest monster of all. The uncomfortable truth is that the construction industry is one of the biggest culprits in perpetuating the problem.


T


he construction industry has a plastic problem. A 50,000 tonne per annum problem with plastic packaging alone. It’s fair to say that the sector


has not been the quickest on the uptake with the reduce, reuse, recycle agenda. In fact, the launch of Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) “Spotlight on … plastics and packaging” campaign last year threw up some shocking statistics:


• 23% of plastic produced in the UK is consumed by the construction industry • 25% of construction packaging waste by weight is plastic


• 3x more packaging waste is produced by construction than all UK households combined


• 25% of skips that leave site during the construction phase are filled with disposable packaging, including cardboard, timber and plastic


As a permanent building material, plastic is often unbeatable. But in it’s single-use form – the type that gets discarded, it becomes a problem. 25% of plastic waste in construction is in packaging but substantial amounts come from unused materials caused by over ordering, over-specification, and throwing away damaged items caused in transport, storage or handling.


As the issue becomes more ingrained in public consciousness – and who hasn’t been nagged about plastics at home by eco-savvy teens and children? – then the construction industry will come under increasing pressure to drive better practice through the supply chain. Merchants, positioned between


will come under


suppliers and end users, are perhaps uniquely placed to make a real impact here. .


It is possible to reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill. In Germany for instance,


construction generates 201.8 million tonnes of waste in construction and demolition, with around 90% of that recycled. Around 80% of


molitio es 201


34


the plastic waste in Germany is recycled, compared to less than 40% in the UK. Reduce: merchants are talking to suppliers about delivering in larger packs, cutting the volume of packaging per item.. In turn, manufacturers are developing reusable crates and pallet take-back schemes.


Reuse: Merchants are beginning to ask suppliers to take packaging away to reuse for the next delivery.


Recycle: Of course with a complex problem like this, the answers are never simple. For example, many companies trying to reduce the amount of plastic they send to waste are stymied by issues like the co-mingling of different types of plastic: it is nigh on almost impossible to identify the type of plastic involved as there is so little labelling. Using a licensed Waste Management C


Contractor


trade stically


vered eocel t


prove “As


we


pular of


foil ‘sausage’ packs instead of bulky plastic cartridges.,” he says.


An empty ecoSEAL sausage is more than eight times less volume than a spent cartridge and up to 60% lighter. The ecoSEAL system includes a high performance sanitary silicone sealant in white and clear called Bath &


Kitchen, and the sausages are easy to use. They are simply slipped into a special ecoSEAL sleeve and used in a standard applicator gun. The sleeve can be used on average 75 times and lids and nozzles can also be reused. One contractor that is making great use of the ecoSEAL system is repairs and maintenance contractors Fortem (formerly Willmott Dixon Support Services). The company switched to using ecoSEAL


sanitary sealants five years ago and has used thousands of the sausage packs since, saving tonnes of waste to landfill in the process. “We use ecoSEAL because it’s quite simply the right thing to do ethically,” says Fortem’s Dean Ryan. “And our operatives love it – they see the great quality sealant and that it’s easy to use and guns just the same as a plastic cartridge so it’s a no-brainer for us, especially since it also reduces our waste charges too.” Fortem buys its Geocel ecoSEAL from Travis Perkins and the two companies work closely together to deliver sustainable solutions across the board. “At Fortem we believe that that companies with a strong sustainability performance are more likely to have a strong financial performance, so it is everyone’s interests to make the changes needed to meet our sustainability goals.” BMJ


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net September 2019 .buildersmerchantsjour


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