Construction Site Waste Management Plan

If you are involved in a construction or demolition project in the UK worth £300,000 or more, you have a legal duty to complete a Site Waste Management Plan, often abbreviated to SWMP. If your project is worth £500,000 or more, the requirements become more detailed.

Additionally, where a development has a requirement to complete a Code for Sustainable Homes or BREEAM assessment it may be required to complete a SWMP to satisfy a credit requirement regardless of project worth.

A SWMP should be treated as an evolving document, with data being added and updated as the construction progresses. The SWMP should be developed before construction starts on site to establish waste management methodologies and policies to be used by the construction team throughout demolition (if applicable) and construction/refurbishment. Estimated weights (tons) should be allocated for waste types as well as predicted percentage of diversion from landfill. During the demolition and construction/refurbishment stages, the waste handling should be managed and data collected to report on the actual weights of waste produced (by type) as well as percentage diverted from landfill. This can then be compared against the estimated figures.

For more complex schemes Operational waste management plans may be required at planning stage.