Tarmac, a UK business specialising in sustainable building materials and construction solutions, have pulled together a specialist report which they are hoping will ‘ignite action’ across the industry when it comes to responsible waste management.

This report was a response to a mandatory digital waste tracking policy looking to be launched toward the end of 2023/beginning of 2024, the result of which the spotlight will be on the Construction, Demolition and Excavation (CD&E) sectors to prioritise reuse and recycling in their waste strategies. Making up 68% of all waste in the UK, the CD&E sector, if working in one joined-up approach, could have an instrumental impact towards achieving a more circular, net-zero future for the nation.

To do this, Tarmac cites the need for ‘A change in mindset – It’s not waste, it’s a resource’.

To drive efficiencies toward a circular economy, Defra announced in early 2022 their intentions to launch a mandatory digital waste tracking policy across the UK. Their overall incentive for this policy was to:

“Support the effective regulation of waste, transforming the way environmental regulators monitor compliance, prioritise regulatory activities and help prevent waste crime, including fly tipping, deliberate misclassification of waste, illegal waste exports and the operation of illegal waste sites.”

With the CD&E sector generating 138 million tonnes in the UK in 2018, the spotlight is firmly on them to be an instrumental player in this initiative.

Historically, although a company’s legal obligation and duty of care under Section 34 of the Environment Protection Act is to ensure that waste is dealt with correctly, there has often been the attitude that their responsibility as an individual organisation ends once the waste has been handed on. However this responsibility is meant to extend across the entire process – with company’s obligated to track that their waste is being managed responsibly once transferred to a licensed waste carrier. This is where digital waste tracking will expose where in the waste chain the CD&E sector are not fulfilling this duty of care.

So how can the sector better manage the 138 million tonnes of waste produced in the UK each year, and prepare for mandatory digital waste tracking?

Responsible waste management needs to, in our eyes, be managed simply, reliably, and honestly. Fast moving sectors such as CD&E, need contractors who can provide easy-to-integrate and sustainable workflows. If dealing with waste management becomes a burden, this has a knock-on effect on good practice – the production of waste is a never-ending cycle which cannot be paused if the management system in place is not functional.

This is where services such as myWaste are pivotal. A comprehensive, online overview of a company’s waste streams, including hazardous or challenging waste, with tracking and data outputs to keep them compliant with the latest environmental regulations. Ultimately – digitising the entire process to support a company’s shift into mandatory digital waste tracking.

In addition, tools such as myWaste also communicates the bigger picture to the sector. By providing a facility to track recycling costs and see in real-time the value of what is being recovered, it becomes a motivator to improve the sector’s overall performance and influence its environmental impact. As cited in the Tarmac report: “More must be done to see waste as a valuable resource and optimise its use instead of choosing landfill.”

Approaching this change in how waste is managed for the CD&E sector needs to be proactive, in order for mandatory digital tracking obligations to feel manageable – and not a burden on those responsible for it. By getting systems in place now, rather than reactively, will allow for a learning curve period which will kick start efficiencies in reuse and recycling of CD&E waste.

Read the full Tarmac Specialist Report here: 14388.001_Tarmac-Landfill-White-Paper-v9-1.pdf (windows.net)

For more information on the proposed mandatory digital waste tracking policy, and delivery timelines, visit: Mandatory digital waste tracking – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Information on WasteCare‘s waste management services, and how to sign up to the myWaste app can be found here.