In the present world, we find a lot of waste being generated in various ways, as the population has increased over the past few years. These waste produced are causing havoc in various ways, like spreading of diseases, living beings dying because they consume the toxins from the generated waste, directly or indirectly and many more of such reasons and this is happening in many places across the world. Though we have found solutions for many of these problems, yet there are still more areas where the waste management isn’t applied properly. One of them is in the construction and demolition industry. Construction plays a vital role in the economic growth in the developing countries. However, the construction industry is also reported as one of the pollution generators that destroy the environment which will lead to undesirable impacts towards economy and social aspects of the country. If this problem is sorted out, in a way, we are contributing towards a safer and healthy environment.
Managing waste means eliminating waste where possible; minimising waste; and reusing materials which might otherwise become waste. Solid waste management practices have identified the reduction, recycling and reuse of waste. We can find ways to use these methods in waste management in building construction and demolition. For example, construction products can be selected on the basis of its being designed and manufactured to be shipped with minimal packaging. This way, we are minimising waste. We can segregate waste efficiently and reuse some of those waste again, like - doors and windows, after demolition of a building, in good, reusable condition might substitute for new products, or be donated and or sold for use on another project. This way we can tackle a few problems in this industry. The solution for such problems have already been found out in various countries and are being applied successfully as well. In our own country, India, on 29 th March 2016, The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Construction & Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016. These rules were an initiative to effectively tackle the issues of pollution and waste management and today they are effectively in use. It has laid out strict duties for people involved in the construction and demolition industry, the government and the pollution control boards, like- Every waste generator shall segregate construction and demolition waste and deposit it at authorised processing facilities; the waste generators must ensure that there is no obstruction to the traffic, the public or the drain; the service providers and contractors shall prepare a comprehensive waste management plan for waste generated within their jurisdiction; Monitoring the implementation of these rules by the concerned local bodies and many more of such duties. Similarly, Most construction and demolition waste currently generated in the U.S. is lawfully destined for disposal in landfills regulated under Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 40, subtitles D and C. In some areas all or part of construction and demolition waste stream is unlawfully deposited on land, or in natural drainages including water, contrary to regulations to protect human health, commerce and the environment. Businesses and citizens of the U.S. legally dispose of millions of tons of building-related waste in solid waste landfills each year. Increasingly, significant volumes of construction related waste are removed from the waste stream through a process called diversion. Diverted materials are sorted for subsequent recycling, and in some cases reused. Thus, we can see that the construction and demolition waste are regulated really well in few countries across the world. But there are still a few places where there is a need for regulating the construction and demolition waste. For instance, in Africa, the dumping sites are currently overflowing. So, it’s time that instead of simply dumping all the construction and demolition waste into dumping sites in future, we can start managing those waste. We can start off by using the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) and educating people there about managing wastes. We can organise people there into groups and assign them certain duties. On doing so, the people there, who are unemployed, will have some jobs to do and also, will help in economic growth in the country as well. Adding to this, in general, there are more advantages of managing waste in construction and demolition. They are as follows:
- Proper waste handling and segregation will protect workers and members of the public from accidents. Also, we can reduce the generation of pollution and dust, which will keep us healthy.
- Proper construction waste management reduces costs in multiple ways. We can reduce spending by reusing materials and we can prevent double costs, which refers to paying for a material that goes to waste and then paying again to have it removed.
- Managing waste will help us limit how much we generate and dispose of, as well as ensure it’s properly processed once removed from the site. This will help to conserve our planet’s natural resources and minimise the energy required to transport and reprocess waste.
All these methods do take time in making them effective and successful, as it involves a lot of teamwork and managing people, but even if they are somewhat successful, we are contributing a lot towards being environment friendly, health and safety of human life and other living beings and to the country’s economy and development. Also, if we get the waste management in building construction and demolition right, we can cancel it out from the equation of waste management in general.