Waste management involves collecting, transporting, processing, and disposing of waste. The sustainability aspect helps in enhancing maintenance of aesthetic, healthy, and ecologically sound environs. Effective waste management practices within the construction industry reduce environmental degradation, which affects both fauna and flora (Waste n.d.). There are numerous waste materials in the construction industry, especially solid wastes, which still lack a strong policy for disposal.
Therefore, construction managers ought to device suitable disposal techniques that can make the processes within this industry sustainable. Waste management strategies should be sustainable in order to create a cleaner environment, as well as conserve resources of nutrients, raw materials, energy, and water. Large construction projects produce wastes that construction managers must devise ways of mitigating.
Construction, demolition, and land clearing debris (CDL) that comes from the mentioned project require salvaging, recycling, and complete prevention (Ma 2011). Removing valuable and reusable construction resources prior to demolishing structures constitute salvage. In large construction projects, wood, cardboard and gypsum wallboard are highly likely to be the main eco-friendly materials that remain after work completion.
The reduction strategy identifies potential wastes at the constriction designing stage and devises effective and efficient prevention processes. After identifying how to prevent waste, a contractor goes further to identify salvageable wastes for donation, or reuse in the current or another scheme (Reducing Waste – Waste Management 2013).
These techniques are effective in reducing costs at which contractors will dispose waste materials. Besides, firms that give priority to waste management market themselves to numerous clients who have great interest in participating in programmes that keep the environment green. By recycling and preventing waste materials, contractors are reducing depletion of natural resources, reducing greenhouse gases and creating less pollution due to reduced manufacturing emissions (Ma 2011).
Most of the products in the constriction industries are solid in nature, and with the growth of urban centres, there are limited spaces to use as disposal sites. At the same time, energy is currently more expensive and raw materials are becoming meagre day-in, day-out. Notably, the aforementioned changes result in rise in pollution on water, air and soil, thus bringing into fore the need for modern systems of waste disposal, which are cost effective in the long-term perspective.
Climate change has forced all sectors to employ approaches that tend to minimize harm to the environment. In Australia, there is the National Waste Policy that the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) together with the government has put forth to responsibly manage wastes in the country.
In its responsibilities, the WMAA ensures that all the approaches to waste management within all sectors are sustainable in order to keep waste production at minimum levels and encourage reuse of such resources several times. Australia aims to protect the environment from harm that can emanate from industrial products.
For example, in 2001, the country introduced the Product Stewardship for Oil Program (PSO) that aimed at encouraging environmental sustainability. PSO encouraged sustainability by offering incentives to oil firms to re-refine their used oil and re-use them, instead of disposing (Product Stewardship for Oil Program (PSO) n.d.).
The concept of sustainability remains a key topic in the 21st century, as nations grapple with different strategies to minimize emissions of greenhouse gases, reuse, or recycle wastes. Sustainability intends to facilitate the use of waste management processes and techniques that ensure that the current generation fully meet their objectives without compromising on the objectives of the next generation.
For instance, if a sugarcane company in Australia like Bundaberg Sugar uses bagasse to produce electricity that can run its internal operations, it reduces consumption of energy that is produced from fossil fuels (Bremner 2012). Therefore, in producing their own energy from sugarcane wastes, the company minimizes the amount of wastes that it disposes to the surrounding, as well as conserves energy by using energy produced from environmentally friendly components.
In Australian Capital Territory (ACT), construction and demolition activities produced close to 310,000 tonnes of waste consisting of dirt, asphalt, concrete, and timber (Sustainability: Think Green Every Day n.d.). In 2008/2009, the ACT was able to recycle over 90% of the demolition and construction wastes using numerous Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Notably, of the 310,000 tonnes of waste in 2008/2009, only 27,500 tonnes went into landfills, with the rest turned into valuable resources streams for local and regional use.
The ACT Government has worked towards reducing the amount of wastes that go to landfills with the aim of attaining zero net emissions by 2060 (Bremner 2012). The current resource recovery techniques intend to enhance sustainability. Wood and paper wastes, for example, are ideal resources for generating energy since they have high-energy content. Clearly, the waste management approach does not deprive the future generation of using the same form of energy given that it does not cause harm to the environment.
The ACT Government came up with the Sustainable Waste Strategy 2010-2015, aimed at achieving full resource recovery and a carbon neutral waste in all areas (Bremner 2012). In understanding that waste generation has been on the rise, the waste management legislation encourages reuse and reduce as ways of avoiding waste. In addition, recycle and recover form the aspect of alternative use of waste, while safe and appropriate disposal of waste becomes the last resort.
Sustainable waste management approaches are cost effective in cutting on the cost of disposing such waste products. Moreover, the fact that they do not harm the environment reduces involvement of firms in corporate social responsibility of conserving the environment. If the environment is highly degraded, companies in all industries will have to use more funds in restoring the environmental dynamics both at present and in future.
For example, recycling a tonne of plastic materials saves two tonnes of CO2 that could have gone into the atmosphere (Bremner 2012). Environmental sustainability has a direct link with waste management, as the process, if not managed well jeopardizes safe food, clean air, and clean water, which are basic human needs. In the end, improper waste management causes harsh effects for public health. If wastes are not managed properly, they pollute the environment, thus making it unsafe for human life.
Waste management techniques must inculcate the aspect of sustainability in their solutions. Development continues to be the main objective in all parts of Australia, but the development process must be sustainable in the manner in which they manage wastes.
There is need to create awareness among communities about the essence of recycling and recovering waste materials, as well as minimise landfill option in order to achieve a sustainable waste generation. As evident from the essay, generation of renewable energy from waste is a sustainable approach that the entire world should adopt to create a cleaner environment.
List of References
Bremner, A. 2012, A study into commercial & industrial (C&I) waste and recycling in Australia by industry division, Australian Government: Department of Environment. Web.
Ma, U. 2011, No Waste Managing Sustainability in Construction, Gower, England.
Product Stewardship for Oil Program (PSO), Department of the Environment. Web.
Reducing Waste – Waste Management 2013, CCINW: Services: Sustainable Construction: Waste: Reducing Waste – Waste Management. Web.
Sustainability: Think Green Every Day, Waste Management. Web.
Waste, Environmental College. Web.