SustainableFuture
In a rarely seen consensus, private and public players in the construction sector are calling for more government intervention on the tricky issue of construction waste
The Environment Committee will hear its latest contribution today on the subject it has been investigating for several months – how to deal with the three million tons of sectoral waste that is dumped in landfills every year.
About half of these are considered usable or recyclable.
Steve Evans, CEO of Fletcher Building Residential and Development, said change was more than just a joy to have as the country embarked on a massive effort to tackle the housing shortage.
“I’ve been in this industry for a long time and regulations are changing behaviour. So you’re asking people to do things voluntarily and of course you’re going to get people who are socially or environmentally conscious, who will do it.
“But for the others who aren’t, regulation changes behavior because carrots don’t always work.”
In Fletcher’s submission to the select committee, the company proposed a series of mandates.
“Send [that] waste minimization plans are submitted as part of the consent process; impose a requirement to separate key materials for separate collection at source, which will lead to higher diversion rates; order the reintroduction of demolition permits.”
The list continues.
Evans said that from the design and approval phase through the end of a construction product’s life, government must set standards.
“They have to be involved and it’s not just about incentives, in some cases it’s punishments.
“The good thing you have in government is that you have a focus on climate change and clearly [this] is a matter of climate change.”
The role of government
The role of the government is twofold. It sets the rules, but it is also a player.
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s largest residential developer and landlord, accounting for 7 percent of New Zealand’s currently ongoing housing activity
The department currently manages the largest urban redevelopment and residential investment program in decades, investing $30 billion over the next 20 years and building some 20,000 homes.
General Manager Construction and Innovation Patrick Dougherty said it had an “important role to play” in driving change as a major customer and purchaser of services.
“So what we think we need to do is help in this way to provide some leadership… we have contact points across the industry when it comes to construction partners, demolition and deconstruction partners and consultants.
“So by using that scale, we want to bring about system transformation.”
According to the department’s comments, it saw a strong opportunity for the government to regulate by introducing mandatory “take back” schemes or product management requirements, prefabrication requirements to reduce waste on site and specify products to be recycled that are in-turn. would create a market for the materials, rather than just end up in a container.
It also proposed legislation similar to workplace health and safety requirements, but related to waste management.
Deconstruction versus demolition
“A lot of our redevelopment activities have involved removing existing homes and replacing them with a higher density one so that we can use the land more efficiently. That work used to be a standard of demolition. Now we are prioritizing relocation and deconstruction,” Dougherty said.
“We have a national target to move 7 percent of the cafes we want to remove some of our locations from.”
Kāinga Ora has set itself a different goal of diverting 80 percent of uncontaminated waste from its landfills at its Northland and Auckland sites, and 60 percent from the rest of its sites.
This fiscal year, Kāinga Ora has reused or recycled approximately 17,506 tons of waste, equivalent to approximately 87 percent of all uncontaminated waste removed from Auckland development sites, and relocated 46 state houses — approximately 10 percent of all waste released to make way for new developments.
“We are developing a specific construction waste minimization program for our new construction and also for our renovation program.”
He said this work involved more off-site fabrication, as well as research into the reuse of materials, which he hoped the government would look into.
“The NZ Building Code is the main restriction on allowing material reuse in construction. This is problematic as it reduces a potential market for material reuse in New Zealand as it results in limited demand,” said Kāinga Ora’s entry.
Fletchers agreed, writing in his entry, “the building code and waste regulations will also need to allow/regulate/incentivize the use of new recycled and reused materials.”
Auckland Council senior waste planning adviser Mark Roberts agreed that the building code needed to be changed.
“This will drive demand for deconstruction.”
He also wanted to get more done with regard to the end of life of a product.
“We are seeing an increase in composite building materials that have no accompanying product management and poor end-of-life results. We are currently creating a waste crisis that will unfold in 80 to 100 years.
“Introducing end-of-life considerations within MBIE’s CodeMark certification will provide significant benefit to waste outcomes.”
working underground
Antonia Reid, spokesperson for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, said a series of work is underway to encourage waste reduction, including exploring barriers to reuse and recycling of building materials and expanding the waste infrastructure network.
“MBIE is also advancing with changes requiring reporting and measurement of the total CO2 emissions of new buildings, from manufacturing building materials to disposing of them at the end of a building’s life.
“We expect this focus on embodied carbon reduction will lead to greater repair and retrofit of existing buildings, smarter building design to minimize emissions and waste within new construction, and greater deconstruction of buildings at end-of-life if they cannot be made suitable. made for purpose.”
Building and Construction Secretary Megan Woods said the government is working to reduce waste through actions in the emissions reduction plan.
“Including a possible amendment to the Building Decree that would increase the use of, and set requirements for, waste minimization plans in the construction sector.
“Reducing waste in the construction industry is also an opportunity to support supply chain resilience and lower costs for consumers, which can only be a good thing,” she said.
The select committee will now prepare a report to the House with its findings and recommendations.