Waste and recycling
Goals
Our overall goals for waste are:
- To reduce progressively waste generation
- To encourage recycling waste and utilising recycled products
- To reduce progressively disposal of waste directly to landfill
Waste performance indicators
We measure waste in three categories:
- General waste, eg:
- Offcuts and packaging
- Hazardous waste, eg:
- Waste COSHH (substances hazardous to health) materials and their packaging
- Contaminated land removed on behalf of customers
- Materials such as redundant oils
- Inert material: eg:
- Excess sub-soils, generated by our civil and construction engineering business
- Inert concrete, hardcore and planings
The construction process typically generates large volumes of waste. Over the last five years, we have raised the awareness of this problem across the business, and have improved our measurement of construction waste – aided by the use of national waste contractors who are able to provide accurate data on waste volumes and recycling.
2006 UK performance
Total Waste: We have generated a similar amount of waste relative to NSV in 2006 to 2005. Our total waste (general, hazardous and inert material) relative to £m NSV for 2006 was 199 tonnes (199 tonnes in 2005).
General Waste per £m NSV: Our UK general waste produced relative to £m NSV has increased by 14% on 2005. This is largely due to more accurate reporting and improved management of waste data.
Hazardous Waste: In 2006 there was a 76% reduction in hazardous waste volumes per £m NSV compared to an unusually high volume in 2005.
Inert Material: In 2006 UK businesses slightly increased the amount of inert material sent directly to landfill. Relative to NSV we have increased by 2% on 2005 figures. The increase is largely due to piling operations outside the London clay basin and the material not being suitable for recycling.
In accordance with requirements of legislation; 947 notified Hazardous Waste Producer Sites were registered with the Environment Agency in 2006 compared to 619 in 2005. Six in other parts of Europe and two in Malaysia were registered with local agencies in 2006.
Waste Type |
Region |
2006
|
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tonnes |
Tonnes / £m NSV |
Tonnes |
Tonnes / £m NSV |
Tonnes |
Tonnes / £m NSV |
Tonnes |
Tonnes / £m NSV |
|
General (non hazardous waste) |
UK |
223,454 |
53.8 |
170,112 |
47 |
117,653 |
44.1 |
100,778 |
37.93 |
Europe |
158.47 |
0.66 |
1,342 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Hazardous (special) waste |
UK |
11,298 |
2.7 |
41,328 |
11.5 |
6,345 |
2.4 |
2,688 |
1.01 |
Europe |
12.1 |
0.05 |
30 |
0.1 |
|||||
Inert material sent off-site |
UK |
592,523 |
142.65 |
504,001 |
140.3 |
637,631 |
239 |
609,751 |
229.5 |
Europe |
- |
- |
1,240 |
4.1 |
|||||
Totals |
UK |
827,275 |
199.2 |
714,441 |
199.1 |
761,629 |
236.1 |
718,164 |
268.4 |
Europe |
170.57 |
0.71 |
3,432 |
8.7 |
|||||
No European data available for 2002-2004. Data incomplete for Europe
Recycling Performance
We measure tonnes of material sent for reuse or recycling, including inert material, plastics, metals and paper.
In 2006 in the UK we have again significantly increased the quantity of waste sent for recycling by positively identifying reusable/recyclable materials on our sites and effectively segregating them for transfer off-site.
Our projects at Heathrow Terminal 5 re-used waste wood as protection for completed permanent structures. Our rail businesses sent 42,254 tonnes of ballast to be re-used on construction sites. As a result of using a Waste Reduction Plan, Mansell Construction, are able to demonstrate that less than 10-20% of their total waste arisings are sent to landfill.
In 2006 in the UK we recycled:
- 27,472 tonnes of metals, a 58% improvement on 2005.
- 13,053 tonnes of packaging waste, a 16% improvement on 2005.
- 6,172 tonnes of plastic, a 10% improvement on 2005.
In 2006, in the UK, we more than doubled the amount of inert materials sent directly to recycling stations.
In 2005 we created a separate category of other materials sent for recycling. This category was there to collect all the other examples of materials we send to be recycled. In 2006 in the UK we sent 66,129 tonnes of batteries, lighting tubes, switches and other materials for recycling.
Material type (tonnes) |
|
2006
|
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
Metals |
UK Europe |
27,530 114 |
17,374 141 |
13,673 – |
8,221 – |
Paper |
UK Europe |
308 25 |
408 43 |
489 – |
338 – |
Packaging |
UK Europe |
13,053 70 |
11,221 37 |
984.4 – |
740.1 – |
Plastics |
UK Europe |
6,172 6 |
5,586 0 |
3,873 – |
2,172 – |
Inert material, concrete, hardcore & planings |
UK Europe |
714,045 2,982.73 |
286,431 1,322 |
152,756
|
294,209 |
Other materials sent for recycling (batteries, lighting strips) |
UK Europe |
66,189 20 |
31,467 7 |
Not recorded
|
Not recorded |
Totals |
UK Europe |
827,298 3,217 |
351,166 1,550 |
171,775 n/a |
305,680 n/a |
No European data available for 2002-2004.
Summary and 2006 Objectives
In 2006 we have:
- Improved the recording of waste and recycling data in our other European operating companies
- Produced a similar amount of waste in total in the UK relative to £m NSV
- Significantly increased the amount of inert materials sent to recycling.
We will continue to pursue our objectives during 2006.