In this, the first of our schedule of guest blogs on issues affecting the demolition industry, waste management specialist TopTriangle’s Mark Attwood gives his take on the introduction and take-up of the much-lauded Site Waste Management Plan.
It’s been 9 months since the introduction of compulsory Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP) for Demolition projects valued at over £300,000. As expected, the EA and local authorities have seen many contractors struggle with implementing SWMP’s and have shown leniency to help get waste management plans in place.
This has been a useful and necessary arrangement for many but with the year marker around the corner, there will no doubt be a shift in focus that will see enforcement authorities moving towards prosecution and away from support.
A scary thought when you consider SWMPs are still a headache for contractors as they consider:
• What paperwork needs to be filled out?
• What percentages of waste needs to be recycled?
• How to sustain waste segregation?
• What needs reporting?
• And the rest…
But as time-consuming and complex as an SWMP can seem, you need to dedicate resources to it’s completion as any company that doesn’t comply with SWMP regulations faces a fine of up to £50,000 – proportionate to the value of your project.
The good news is that, like most things, SWMPs can be outsourced to a waste management company. This allows the client to simply keep updated while saving resources and getting on with his/her work on-site.
As with anything you outsource, there are benefits to handing over an SWMP to experts. A waste management company will have the knowledge and contacts to ensure your projects stays within budget, hits ‘green’ targets and potentially earns you as much as possible from recyclate.
It’s still early days in the SWMP world so there are only a few companies that specialise in SWMP completion, one is TopTriangle Waste Management. Like others; TopTriangle Ltd will take care of any SWMP compliance worries and ensure you avoid steep fines while regulating the waste that is produced. Unlike others, they’ve been in the waste management industry for 5 years now, helping their clients cut down the amount going to landfill and reducing illegal waste activity.
All in all, if you’re appointed with the responsibility of managing on-site waste, you must have sufficient authority to make sure others comply with the SWMP plus time to put the plan together, see it through and analyse after project completion.
If you need some free info on SWMP’s, what they involve; how to set one up and the things that are often forgotten or overlooked; check out this handy and free Site Waste Management Plan Guide. It’s in plain English, is straight forward and provides the information you need to know.
Mark Attwood is CEO of TopTriangle Ltd, one of the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative waste and hire services companies. Mark has been featured on the UK’s most popular radio station, BBC Radio 2 numerous times, including the Jeremy Vine Show and Chris Evans Show. He has been profiled in the Daily Telegraph and was voted for the “Crains’ 40 under 40 Award” in 2008 as one of the most successful business people under the age of 40. He created the world’s first ever fully online skip hire service TopSkips.com in 2003 and is also the publisher and creator of the UK Skip Hire Trade Monthly, “The Skip” magazine, as featured on BBC TV.
