A waste standard that can assist in reducing waste in the early stages of building or refurbishment projects has been launched by the BSI.
Dealing with waste management is becoming more challenging for an increasing number of organisations as controls are becoming stricter and costs to remove waste increases.
BSI, the business standards company, has revised its waste resource management specification, PAS 402 on order to make businesses more aware of the measures they can take towards reducing these costs and meeting EU Landfill Directive targets.
The standard is intended to allow teams to think about the materials that they use, taking into consideration high recyclability and implementing recycling strategies before any work is started. BS 8895-1 offers direction on what is essential at both part A and B stages of the RIBA Plan of Work.
It states that the emphasis should be on identifying client objectives and aspirations on material efficiency for part A and identifying performance indicators and targets for part B.
Reducing build time and project costs through material waste reduction is a key concern for building projects. Waste reduction measures and material efficiency needs that are identified after strategies are put in place become very hard to deal with – this is where BS 8895-1’s preventative approach to designing out waste can help.
Key features of the standard include:
- “A consistent and qualified approach for designing for material efficiency
- Integration of principles of designing out waste at early stages and communicating them in a formal and referenced manner
- Complements guides such as those produced by WRAP (Waste Resource Action Programme)”
As landfill space reduces the need for intelligent and responsible waste resource management is continuously increasing.
The designing for material efficiency process works by using an identify, investigate and implement system. This should be done during the course of the different stages of the project and should start as early as possible. It will have a larger emphasis at different stages depending on the level of design activity at the time. For example during:
- “Early stages of Strategic Definition, Preparation and Brief, and Concept and Developed Design, the emphasis should be on ‘Identify’
- At Developed Design stage, the emphasis should be on ‘Investigate’
- At Technical Design stage, the emphasis should be on ‘Implement”
Mohamed Osmani Chairman of the General Building Codes committee at BSI and Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Sustainable Construction at Loughborough University says:
“BS 8895 responds to the recognition of the impact of designing in material efficiency and designing out waste on the overall sustainable performance of buildings as espoused in recent research and government guidance documents, and supported by designers’ call for associated guidance and codes of practice.”
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