(EC-59-19) Construction & Demolition Waste Services

The ecolabel grants a licence for your business processes, such as how you will divert and measure waste. Then, when you take on projects, you get to decide which ones will be completed in accordance with the ecolabel standards. These ecolabel projects are then audited as a group by Eco Choice at the end of the year, or within two months of completion if the project is a Green Star project.

You can easily measure volume of waste (see Question 3), so this should not be an impediment to taking on the ecolabel. There is, however, good reason for us to measure volume: A lot of the materials collected at C&D waste sites are lightweight but hazardous to the environment – these can include polystyrene and plastic componentry, for example. Our goal is to reduce hazardous waste to landfill and if we measure only by weight, we do not provide an incentive for companies to reduce the use of these lightweight, harmful materials.

Another reason to measure by volume is that many New Zealanders are concerned about how much space landfills take up, especially as our population grows.

The good news is you don’t need to convert weight to volume, because you can simply report volume on a per-skip basis. What we do ask is that you segregate waste streams, so plasterboard should be in one skip, and polystyrene in another. This keeps each waste stream cleaner (i.e. the polystyrene doesn’t get plasterboard dust all over it); this in turn makes it easier to reuse or recycle that waste.

As most people will know, skips are hired or chosen based on their volume, making it even easier to measure by volume.So, to be very clear, if you fill three 3m3 skips with plasterboard, then you have a waste volume of 9 m3. If the last skip is about half full then you would have 3 m3 + 3 m3 + 1.5 m3 = 7.5 m3 of plasterboard.

The salvage target applies to materials that have been removed from a building before demolition (e.g. during soft strip) that are then reused or recycled. Salvaging is one method of waste diversion.

Salvaged materials are often removed intact or with minimal damage and are less likely to be contaminated, so they are easier to reuse or recycle than materials that are mixed with other demolition waste.

Once the building has been demolished, the diversion target applies to all materials (including salvaged ones) that are reused, recycled instead of being sent to landfill.

Green Star is a ratings tool for commercial buildings. Buildings applying for a Green Star rating need to demonstrate that they comply with a number of credits. Some credits are mandatory (minimum requirements) and for others there are points awarded for meeting the credit. The final number of “stars” awarded to a building depends on how many points it is awarded (and that it meets all of the mandatory credits).

An Eco Choice Construction & Demolition Waste licence can help meet the Green Star requirements. If you are working on a building project where the waste contractor and/or waste generators have an Eco Choice Construction & Demolition Waste licence, the mandatory minimum reporting requirement for Green Star is automatically met.

In addition, projects using Eco Choice Construction & Demolition Waste-licensed waste contractors also qualify for 1 point under the 70% diversion from landfill credit. To be awarded the point, the Eco Choice audit will need to be complete two months after Practical Completion of the project.

To further clarify, reaching the mandatory minimum requirements are baseline, but are worth zero Green Star credits. If you have the Eco Choice C&D waste ecolabel you meet minimum Green Star reporting requirements AND qualify for 1 point for diversion.

Because we want as many people as possible to be able to take up the Eco Choice label to drive waste reduction for New Zealand, we determine cost based on the turnover of the licenced service. So, for a smaller company, working on fewer or smaller projects, the cost will be less.

Our fee structure includes an Application Fee, Verification Fee and an Annual Licence Fee.

Application Fee: For all companies, there is a one-off Application Fee of $750 + GST.

Verification Fee: To ensure a high standard, there is an initial on-site verification followed by supervision verifications on a regular basis (generally once per year).

These checks are done by an independent auditor and the Verification Fee will be charged at cost + 5% (administration fee).

The cost of verification varies depending on such things as the location of your facilities and how prepared you are. An estimate will be provided before we start.

Annual Licence Fee: The Annual Licence Fee is based on the declared annual net sales value of Eco Choice licensed services. So, for example, if a construction company has nine Eco Choice projects in a year for which it charges a total of $1,500,000, then its licence fee will be $4,000.

No – as above, an organisation’s processes are licenced annually. Once a year, we will audit any Eco Choice licenced projects you have completed.

Yes, it is a requirement of having an Eco Choice licence that all licenced services are audited every 12 months. An ecolabel sets your company, systems and projects apart from your competition, therefore, it’s important that standards are set and kept to a high level.

The criteria for the ecolabel are set out in the published specification on the Eco Choice website. To give a brief overview, there are three stages of operations that require criteria to be met: the planning stage, the practice (operations) stage, and the communications and reporting stage.

At the planning stage, a policy around waste and a Waste Minimisation Plan (WMP) are required.

In terms of your day-to-day practice, it’s important to measure the quantity (volume), and report the destination, of all C&D waste that is diverted or reused and to show how the business is focused on continuous improvement.

The communication and reporting criteria include an annual report on the types of services carried out under the licence, the number of projects completed, landfill diversion rate achieved for each project, comparisons between years, and evidence of continuous improvement. Also included is a requirement for training (for example, explanations of why sorting and segregation matters, why bins must be kept closed, etc.), community engagement (e.g., signage that explains where waste from the project will go), and on-site sorting of the various waste streams.

We also look for the total volume of waste removed from the site and detail of the waste received by each Waste Processing Facility (WPF).

Please see the published specification for more detail on criteria for meeting the ecolabel standard.

Public interest and concern about waste is on the rise. For public sector agencies especially, there is a drive to behave more sustainably, reduce carbon and reduce waste-to-landfill. Waste levies are increasing, putting up the price of using landfills for C&D waste producers.

We already have evidence the C&D waste ecolabel has increased business for current licencees, providing a point of difference when compared with their competition. This has generated more business, especially from clients within the public sector. We expect this trend to continue.

The criteria for the ecolabel are set out in the published specification on the Eco Choice website. To give a brief overview, there are three stages of operations that require criteria to be met: the planning stage, the practice (operations) stage, and the communications and reporting stage.

As an NZ Government-owned ecolabel, the C&D waste licence is recognised throughout New Zealand, and internationally through the Global Ecolabelling Network.