What is muck away?
It would be lovely if all building works could be undertaken in a completely hygienic manner, but in reality, building works of any sort almost invariably lead to the production of waste or spoil.
This is particularly true of earthwork operations.
The process of removing this waste is commonly known as “muck away” and these days there is growing pressure on companies to undertake this process in an environmentally-friendly manner. The good news is that where there’s muck, there can be money and so disposing of waste in a sustainable way can actually help a company’s bottom line as well as the environment.
Inert waste
Inert waste is waste which “does not undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological transformations and is unlikely to adversely affect other matter with which it comes into contact”. Historically, this type of waste has typically gone from the construction site to the tipper or skip and then, by road, to landfill. This is still sometimes the case, however today it is increasingly expected that companies will look for sustainable options first and only use landfill as a last resort. Basically, that means try to recycle if at all possible and only send to landfill if there is absolutely no feasible use for the excavated waste. While this may involve more work upfront, it can result in lower costs overall as recyclable waste has a value. Depending on the type of waste involved, a recycling company might even pay to take it away. Even if not, the “donor” company should still expect the value of the waste to be taken into consideration when negotiating a price for its disposal.
Non-hazardous waste
Non-hazardous waste is waste which falls somewhere between inert (basically meaning harmless) and hazardous (meaning that it poses a threat to public health or the environment). In some cases, the same type of waste may be considered either non-hazardous or hazardous depending on the level of contamination within it. The most obvious examples of this are asbestos and gypsum, both of which may, under certain circumstances, be treated as non-hazardous, although there are still certain regulations to be followed regarding their disposal. Even though non-hazardous waste is not considered to be dangerous, it is, unfortunately, difficult to impossible to find alternative uses for it, at least for the time being. Hopefully, this will change in the future. At the current time, however, disposing of non-hazardous waste in a sustainable manner generally means ensuring that it is disposed of in the least damaging way, for example to an asbestos cell or a gypsum cell rather than necessarily just being dumped in landfill. Setting aside the fact that this is likely to be a legal requirement, it is now a public expectation and so trying to cut costs by, for example, treating non-hazardous waste as inert waste, may ultimately lead to problems which could have a far greater financial impact than the cost of processing the non-hazardous waste in the correct manner.
Hazardous waste
Hazardous waste is defined as “waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment”. It is currently impossible to recycle even if, in principle, it is made of recyclable material. For example, Japanese Knotweed should, in theory, be compostable garden waste, but in practice, it is so very robust and invasive that even centralised recycling centres currently refuse to touch it. This is highly unfortunate given that this plant is an extremely common part of “muck away” and so it is very much to be hoped that someone finds a way to treat it so that it can be safely composted. All the previous comments about treating waste in the correct way also apply to hazardous waste, arguably even more so.
