Waste

Now or Never commits us to eliminate all avoidable waste from the demolition, excavation and construction phrases of our projects. Where waste is unavoidable it will be recovered at the highest possible level of the waste hierarchy.

Eliminating waste makes us more efficient, reduces our consumption of natural resources and supports our transition away from the ‘take-make-dispose' model of delivery. Our waste strategy focuses on the reduction, prevention and removal of three key waste types - Construction, Demolition and Excavation. We tailor our efforts based on our level of control, prioritising the reduction of construction waste, which falls under within our remit, while aiming to maximise recovery of non-hazardous demolition waste and reuse of excavation waste.

Construction Waste

By 2030:

• We will eliminate all avoidable construction waste and any non-hazardous unavoidable waste will be diverted from landfill.

2023 Construction waste volume and intensity

During 2023, all our projects continued to create bespoke construction waste elimination plans, which include absolute waste reduction targets. Making robust plans and setting clear targets has enabled us to reduce our construction waste by 57% in 2023 from our 2012 baseline. Our strong performance in adopting the waste hierarchy and prioritising reduction of waste and recovery of materials has meant we have saved £34m over 11 years in reduced skip and materials costs.

We continued to work closely with our supply chain to influence them to reduce waste being brought and produced on our sites. Achieving zero avoidable waste requires collaboration across the value chain, starting with the design of our projects through to delivery on site. So, in 2023, we worked with our groundworkers, dry-liners, and mechanical and electrical partners to identify the challenges and barriers on site, and to agree what best practice should look like for waste reduction. We held three workshops throughout the year and the learnings will be incorporated into our 2024 commitments.

Alongside working with our works partners on site, we also surveyed 80 of our goods partners that we work most closely with, to help them develop and implement their own waste reduction strategies. As packaging and plastics waste makes up nearly a quarter of our total construction waste, our goal is to work with our goods partners to ensure products are delivered to our sites in a safe and sustainable way reducing the need for excessive packaging waste.

Reuse and Recycling

Where we cannot (yet) reduce our waste, we support the circular economy approach to waste reduction, through the Waste Hierarchy by doing what we can to reuse and recycle.

Two companies that support us with this goal are Pallet Loop and Community Wood Recycling.

In 2023, through social enterprise Community Wood Recycling, we removed 391 tonnes of wood waste from our sites, reusing 122 tonnes, recycling 208 tonnes and processing 60 tonnes into firewood. The partnership cut our CO₂ emissions from waste wood by 195 tonnes in 2023. And local people benefitted too, with four paid jobs created by the scheme and seven people trained.

We work with Pallet Loop to re-use and repair pallets from our sites. In 2023, the partnership saw 21,476 pallets collected for reuse, saving timber equivalent to around 2,150 trees and over £100k in waste disposal for our customers.

In 2024, we are supporting Pallet Loop’s new operating model with new green pallets, engineered to be used over and over.

Plastics

We are committed to eliminating single-use plastics from our sites, in our workplaces and at our events. In 2023, we have made good progress in our offices and where possible have switched from plastic milk cartons to glass milk bottles – a move that will save approximately 6,000 single-use plastic items each year. We have identified 19 other single-use plastic items that have also been eradicated since the launch of Now or Never in 2020, including plastic bottles, cups, stirrers, and spoons.

The next step is for us to work with our supply chain partners to tackle single-use plastic being delivered to our sites.

Non-hazardous construction waste diverted from landfill

Where there is no other option and all levels of the waste hierarchy have been explored, we are committed to reducing the amount of non-hazardous construction waste that goes to landfill.

In 2023, we maintained a strong performance to ensure all non-hazardous construction waste was diverted from landfill.

In line with our aim to generate zero avoidable waste by 2030, refurbishment of 10 Brindleyplace in Birmingham saw 100% of construction waste was diverted from landfill to be reused or recycled. The project was completed by Willmott Dixon Interiors in 2023 and won ‘Green Building/Infrastructure Project of the Year’ at the edie Awards 2024 as an outstanding example of sustainable development adopting a back-to-frame approach to refurbishment to minimise waste and reduce carbon emissions.

Demolition and Excavation Waste

Demolition and excavation waste encompass a broad range of materials originating from the dismantling of existing structures and the digging of new foundations. Demolition waste includes concrete, bricks, metals, timber and plastics whereas excavation waste is primarily soil, rock and other natural materials. Because the materials may contain hazardous substances from asbestos to lead paint, sustainable waste management depends on proper management of these waste streams. We have meticulous segregation and disposal procedures in place to mitigate environmental risks and optimise opportunities to recycle and reuse these materials, which can often be used again in the construction phase.

By 2030:

• We will reuse 100% of non-hazardous excavation arising from our sites as a material where technically and practicably possible (either onsite or offsite)
• 100% of our non-hazardous demolition waste will be recovered at the highest possible level of the waste hierarchy.

Where we are required to carry out demolition or excavation work on our projects, our goal is to minimise waste sent to landfill.

2023 demolition and excavation waste diverted from landfill

Our 2023 performance has dipped slightly and our focus for 2024/2025 will be to work closer with our demolition and excavation waste contractors through implementing material management plans and demolition audits to recover demolition waste and reuse excavated arisings. We saw some genuine success stories such as our TBC.London Project for FORE partnership. This development includes the largest percentage reclaimed material we have ever used in a project and is the first UK construction project to reuse steel from a pre-1940s building.

In 2023, we transitioned to and implemented BRE’s waste management system, SmartWaste, which will allow us to collect accurate data and report reuse of material for the first time. Our initial analysis estimates that in 2023 we managed to reuse over 65% of excavated material. Our focus for 2024, with the help of SmartWaste, is to find ways to reuse the earth that is excavated from our sites, so that we avoid it becoming a waste (rather than aiming to divert waste away from landfill).