RSUA calls for preventative approach to construction waste

RSUA has today recommended that the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) adopt a clear policy commitment to a “reuse-first” approach to buildings as part of our supportive response to the Department’s public consultation on “Rethinking Our Resources: Northern Ireland Resources and Waste Management Strategy”.

This approach would seek to establish a presumption in favour of retaining and repurposing existing structures, with demolition permitted only where it can be demonstrated to be the most sustainable option, thereby limiting the amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated in the first instance.

Strategy actions

RSUA welcomes the Strategy’s recognition of C&D waste as a specific focus for improvement.

In addition, we support the proposed actions to:

• Undertake a review of C&D waste data to identify improvements in how it is captured, the treatment routes utilised and the overall composition of C&D waste to identify reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery opportunities.
• Based on these data improvements, develop a baseline for C&D waste arisings and current reuse, recycling and recovery rates.

Increasing re-use of C&D waste

Beyond prevention, we appreciate the Department’s intention to identify new opportunities to reuse, recycle and recover C&D waste.

As part of this work, we suggest the Northern Ireland Executive develop a publicly available list of locally recycled construction materials and where they can be obtained, as well as creating a plan to retain construction waste streams, the latter of which could mandate the separation of building waste by type during construction.

Additional items

• We ask DAERA to clarify its target to “Achieve a municipal waste recycling rate of 55% by 2025”, specifically whether this has been achieved and, if so, the rationale for including it in a document intended to guide action from 2026.
• We request that the Department provide further detail on where long-term funding may come from, previously identified as “essential to … positioning Northern Ireland as a leader in sustainable waste management”.
• We urge DAERA to publish the Strategy’s Progress Indicators without delay, as several actions are already due for delivery.

Further engagement

Our full response can be accessed here.

If you have any questions or comments about this response, please contact Curtis Large, RSUA Policy and Public Affairs Officer, at curtis@rsua.org.uk