Pathway To Zero Waste’s Catalytic Effect
is Spreading Fast
Date: Tuesday 9 March 2010
Published by: CIWM
Chindarat Taylor, director, Pathway To Zero Waste.
I was at the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group New Year gathering in January. Steve Lee, CIWM’s CEO gave a keynote speech which he ended by wishing us all a “Happy Big New Year!”. This is definitely going to be a big year for Pathway To Zero Waste, a year of building on the enormous momentum that we have already generated since being launched by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn last March. This means stimulating even more joined up working, particularly between companies and local authorities, to change the way we manage ‘waste’, and realise the value of these materials instead, turning them into resources.
This change will help companies reduce their costs and create new income streams. New jobs in buying and selling reusable or recycled materials and in building and operating recycling and reuse infrastructure will be generated too. On top of the obvious carbon benefits of course .
It also presents a fantastic opportunity to kick start the recovery from recession and build a strong foundation for the green economy in the South East, a key objective of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), one of PTZW’s founding partners. The positive impact of PTZW won’t just be felt in the South East however. Because although this is a regional initiative, it has with national significance. The lessons we learn we are sharing across the UK, to accelerate the progress of zero waste programmes elsewhere.
PTZW is a partnership between:
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Change is happening, and is here to stay
Pathway To Zero Waste has started by focusing on construction and demolition waste. This makes up one third of all waste landfilled in the UK, a staggering 20 million tonnes a year.
So far we have engaged with over 1000 organisations ranging from waste management companies, private and public sector construction clients and their contractors, technology providers and local authorities. The enthusiastic response and participation we’ve had is far beyond our original expectations and indeed a humbling experience. Our customer focussed approach of going out there to listen and act on the issues that our stakeholders tell us need addressing has had a really positive impact. People just want to be part of the solution and they are grabbing the opportunity to help with both hands.
Talking to people from both the private and public sectors, it is clear that they really want to make a difference, and I’m sure that the determination and passion or ‘winning attitude’ that I can feel spreading throughout the South East is here to stay.
Fig 1. The catalytic approach to zero waste
Pathway To Zero Waste celebrates our first year in March with the knowledge that we will achieve our internal target of 150,000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill as a direct result of our engagement; whether that’s to facilitate the development of new processing infrastructure or by helping construction supply chains working on the top projects in the South East improve their practices.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Because understanding of the benefits of taking every step possible to minimise waste is growing, through the communications activity that we, our partner organisations, and others are carrying out. As a result, organisations are changing their practices and business models to embed resource efficiency and are reducing waste to landfill without any further direct involvement from us, or anyone else.
So the catalytic route to resource efficiency – something we set out to establish right from day one – is very much open for business. What we’re now seeing is a major transformation in the way we manage material resources, and I think we’re getting close to that crucial tipping point after which resource efficiency becomes a way of life.
The key to our success is our holistic approach, leveraging our partners’ expertise to progress six key workstreams simultaneously, in which we take actions on creating demand, market development, infrastructure building, legislation and policy, data management and sharing best practice. This creates enormous synergies and enables delivery of enhanced outcomes for all.
Fig 2. PTZW’s unique and holistic workstreams
Creating Demand
Creating demand is the cornerstone of PTZW where a strong market for reused and recycled materials is created through public and private sector procurement. More and more organisations are coming on board generating a powerful demand pull throughout their supply chains.
One example is Oxfordshire County Council who we have helped incorporate WRAP’s procurement clauses in their long term highway maintenance contracts to maximise use of recycled materials. WRAP are another of our founding partners, and with them we are aiming to ensure this best-practice approach is widely adopted..
Designing out waste is another key area that we are focusing on, providing direct support on some of the largest construction and civil engineering projects in the regions. Network Rail’s £885m upgrade of Reading station for example, where our engagement with construction contractor BAM Nuttall has resulted in a redesign of a bridge re-widening scheme that will stop thousands of tonnes of material going to landfill.
Market Development
Existing market mechanisms in the construction and demolition sector only capture about 10% of the total potential in the market. We need to find a way to capture the other 90%. We have commissioned a study to look at the existing mechanisms for buying and selling of reused and recycled construction materials. There are several examples of very successful operations but most lack economies of scale. We ran a workshops recently with over 30 companies involving in trading of these secondary materials via on-line and physical centres. We are working with them to find an effective market exchange to capture the massive opportunities in this area.
The other area that we looked at was the feasibility of setting up a commodity market for secondary building materials. An effective commodity market will reduce the transaction costs of trading and ensure consistent quality so that materials can be bought or sold sight unseen. We commissioned a feasibility study by David Dougherty who set up the experimental commodity market for recycled materials at the Chicago Board of Trade. His report is currently out for consultation with Government stakeholders.
Infrastructure development
We need to build additional reprocessing facilities to make sure that we have a sufficient supply of secondary materials to meet the demand created. But many existing facilities have been severely impacted by the downturn in construction activity. The downturn has also made finding financial support for new facilities even harder than it always was.
To help, we have developed a construction waste heatmap, showing the arisings ‘hotspots’ across the South East, based on analysis of planned construction activity. This data is matched against existing reprocessing facilities and landfill sites to show the opportunity gap. And we have backed this up with a model business case. Both of which we are happy to discuss with any organisation interested in developing construction waste reuse and recycling facilities.
Legislation and Policy
As part of Pathway To Zero Waste’s legislation and policy workstream, the Environment Agency is intensifying SWMP audits and their Waste Crime Innovation Programme (WCIP) in the South East. This is intended to boost SWMP compliance, increasing demand for waste management company expertise, and create a more level playing field by tackling waste crime and removing illegal operators from the marketplace..
Data Management
The saying that you cannot manage what you cannot measure is so true. The Environment Agency is working on projects to improve the availability and timeliness of data in the waste supply chain. Online management of landfill data has now reduced the reporting time lag from a whole year to just three months. The electronic duty of care waste transfer note trial has been ongoing since April last year. This has the capability to give us almost real time data on flows of materials in the region which will be a real asset in many ways, not least in identifying potential for additional reprocessing facilities.
Sharing Best Practice
Sharing best practice is key to speeding up our transformation and learning and we are always looking for opportunities to gather and spread best practice examples. So do get in touch with us if you want to share something that has produced great results for you - we very look forward to hearing from you.
One of our existing case studies is on Willmott Dixon’s drive to eradicate waste on their construction projects. They came third in last year's Sunday Times Best Green Companies list. With strong commitment from their CEO, they have put in place systems and processes with their employees and supply chain that are delivering an average 95% landfill diversion rate. A growing number of projects are achieving scores just a couple of decimal points away from being zero waste, which bodes well for Willmott Dixon hitting their target of 100% landfill diversion by 2012. An outstanding achievement economically and environmentally for Willmott Dixon Construction and their clients.
Conclusion
With determination, innovation and joined up working between the public and private sectors, I am confident that material resource efficiency and diversion of waste from landfill is here to stay .
The PTZW’s train is going uphill with tremendous support . We are now in sight of the top and will come down the other side with huge momentum generating results along the way. It is going to be challenging, exciting and rewarding for your bottom line, for the low carbon economy and in pushing back climate change. Join us on the Pathway.
Working together for a
zero waste South East:
PTZW is supported by:
