subject: Creating A Site Waste Management Plan For Building Waste Clearance [print this page] The magnitude of the building project that you will be undertaking will determine whether you need to have a site waste management plan in place. The total cost for the project including all of the materials, labour, overhead, and plant is what determines if you are required to put a site waste management plan, or SWMP, in place before you get the project underway. This plan details how you will go about dealing with the waste from the project and will tell about how the removal process will take place.
The client and the principal contractor should both agree with the plan when you are ready to put the SWMP in place. It should include the guidelines that will be followed in order to complete the task as well as the price for the project and a detailed description of where the project will be located. Any waste that is anticipated as a part of the project should also be included in the plan. The different types of waste should be identified with specific instructions on how the items will be disposed of, reused or recovered.
When waste is taken from your job site you should ensure that you have documentation of who is taking it away. The types of waste that is being removed should also be well documented as well as to what location they will be taking it. When the project is complete you should have a detailed list of how your waste was managed, by whom, and in what instances the plan was altered and why. If there were alterations you should include a reason for it and what alterations were made.
An advanced SWMP will be necessary if your project exceeds a certain cost. There are additional pieces of information that must be obtained in order to adhere to a more advanced SWMP. The basic information must be gathered as well but be prepared to gather more details. The cost of the project being so high requires additional backup of information so that you can ensure that you are complying with all laws and regulations.
One thing that you must have in order to comply with an advanced SWMP is the carrier registration number that is assigned to the person that is removing the waste from your work site. You should know exactly what types of waste they are removing and if there are specific permits and exemptions at the site that the waste will be disposed of.
You should ensure that your plan is being updated on a regular basis. Check it every six months to be sure that the information is not missing and that all of the necessary information is being gathered.
As the project progresses you should be able to see this documented in the SWMP. Be sure that you have complete lists of the waste that was recycled, reused, recovered, and disposed of as this will help you down the line when you are preparing a summary of the events that unfolded during the completion of the project. This information will be very valuable and will help make the final summary process much easier for you or for the person that is responsible for completing it.
