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Site Waste Management Plans

We have received quite a few enquiries regarding the inclusion of NBS clauses about Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs). Technical Author Roland Finch explains the latest position.

SWMPs are not new to construction or NBS. What has changed is that they are now mandatory in some cases.

Originally developed as a DTI Voluntary Code of Practice, SWMPs provide a structure for systematic waste management at all stages of a project's delivery. They are already a requirement of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which itself is cited under the Building Regulations, while they are also an integral part of many BREEAM assessments.

Clauses were added to NBS following introduction of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, but it wasn't until April 2008 that the accompanying Regulations came into force, (albeit initially only in England) setting out the statutory requirements.

Clause 5 of the Regulations provides that:

(1) Any client who intends to carry out a project on any one construction site with an estimated cost greater than £300,000 excluding VAT must prepare a site waste management plan conforming to these Regulations before construction work begins.

The contents are set out in Clause 6, which states:

(1) A site waste management plan must identify—
(a) the client;
(b) the principal contractor; and
(c) the person who drafted it.

(2) It must describe the construction work proposed, including—
(a) the location of the site; and
(b) the estimated cost of the project.

(3) It must record any decision taken before the site waste management plan was drafted on the nature of the project, its design, construction method or materials employed in order to minimise the quantity of waste produced on site.

(4) It must
(a) describe each waste type expected to be produced in the course of the project;
(b) estimate the quantity of each different waste type expected to be produced; and
(c) identify the waste management action proposed for each different waste type, including re-using, recycling, recovery and disposal.

(5) It must contain a declaration that the client and the principal contractor will take all reasonable steps to ensure that—
(a) all waste from the site is dealt with in accordance with the waste duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990(3) and the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991(4); and
(b) materials will be handled efficiently and waste managed appropriately.

In addition the regulations contain details of who is to produce the plan, how often it is to be reviewed, and what becomes of it once the project is finished.

There are a couple of interesting points to note about the Regulations: firstly, a ‘Principal Contractor’ must be appointed, although it need not be the same Principal Contractor appointed for the purposes of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.

Secondly, clause 5 requires that the ‘estimated cost’ is arrived at by examining returned Tenders. Since parts of the plan must be prepared before Tenders are returned, it will be interesting to see how this works in practice.

Likewise, clause 8 describes further information which is to be provided if the estimated cost rises above £500,000. (It should be noted that some of this is already required by other legislation for lower thresholds. The requirement here is to mark it on the plan).

Perhaps most interestingly, there does not appear to be any explicit requirement to set targets for waste reduction or minimization.

It seems that the primary offence is simply not to produce a SWMP, for which a fixed penalty notice of £300 can be issued (clause 16) by an ‘authorised person’ from either the Local Authority or the Environment Agency. There is no guidance as to how frequently repeat penalty notices can be issued.

As noted earlier, currently these regulations only apply in England; there are plans to extend the regulations to Wales and Northern Ireland, but none for Scotland as yet.

In the Irish Republic, SWMPs are being implemented in a different way. The thresholds are based upon amounts of waste produced, rather than financial estimates.

Clauses for SWMPs can be found in Preliminaries Section A30 (clause 590).

Further information can be obtained from the Government backed Waste & Resources Action Programme: www.wrap.org.uk