Financial evaluation of waste management methods: a case study

This paper investigates the relatively new field of waste management in the construction industry, and examines the success of the waste management system implemented by Barclay Mowlem Construction Pty Ltd on the Vantage Apartments project in Brisbane. The study incorporates the assessment of the current on-site waste management operations plan, a financial feasibility providing a comparison between traditional waste disposal methods, waste disposal methods as adopted on this site, and proposed environmental ideal waste management methods. Finally, a statistical analysis to determine waste quantities generated and the success of the current methods implemented. A best comparison is made between traditional waste handling methods, the system used on the Vantage Apartments project and an idealised system of total waste management. Results indicated the total cost of waste handling and disposal for the Vantage Apartments project was approximately the same as for traditional methods. For the idealised system of total waste management, there was an increase of cost of 66% over the traditional method. The success of waste separation on the Vantage Apartments project was not realised to its fullest potential. This result is partially attributable to difficult site conditions and the subcontractor’s unfamiliarity with a Waste Management Scheme. It is anticipated that improvement in these areas would require better control and planning of waste handling. Although it is obviously environmentally beneficial to increase efforts in waste separation and recycling it must be considered that costs do increase substantially should tighter on-site controls be implemented, and that if the recycling opportunities are not readily available, there is little potential for any substantial financial or environmental gains.