Green-led Brighton & Hove City Council has been shortlisted for three awards for its work with construction companies to recycle and reuse waste materials from building sites.
Following the success of a pilot project on local construction sites, the council is shortlisted for a national and regional award at the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards, and in the running for a sustainability award at South East Centre for the Built Environment (SECBE) Construction Excellence Awards.
Green Councillor Amy Kennedy, Deputy Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, and cabinet member for Planning, Employment, Economy and Regeneration, said:
"The council has worked closely with developers to reduce, reuse and recycle construction and demolition waste.
"It is in everyone's interests - as well as protecting the local environment, cutting waste and increasing recycling can help to save firms money.
"It's a real win-win.
"We are delighted this work has been shortlisted for awards alongside much more high profile projects, such as the Olympics developments."
Working closely with developers and builders, the pilot project has proved a success in more ways than one - reducing the amount of waste and saving construction companies money by cutting their waste disposal costs.
Feedback from local construction companies suggests they are making savings of around 1% by reusing and recycling materials - which if multiplied across the South East construction industry would run into millions of pounds worth of savings.
Councillor Kennedy added: "The aim of the pilot project was to get developers and construction companies thinking about how they are going to put their waste materials to good use from the beginning of the planning process, not just as an afterthought once work is underway and waste materials are piling up."
Notes
1) A total of 1.2 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste is produced in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex each year - that's more than half of all waste generated and enough to fill 120 000 skips.
2) Government regulations mean all construction companies involved with developments over £300 000 should have a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) in place to reduce, reuse and recycle their construction and demolition waste. The council's pilot project involved site visits, workshops, publicity and practical help to enable contractors and developers to meet the requirements of SWMP legislation.