Clean sites for sore eyes

TRADESPEOPLE and builders working in Casey and Greater Dandenong learned how to clean up their construction sites last week as part of a Keep Australia Beautiful (KABV) program.
The KABV Clean Site program aims to educate builders and tradespeople on important stormwater, litter and recycling management issues.
Chief executive officer of KABV and Bayside councillor Andrew McLorinan said the construction and demolition of buildings contributed to 40 per cent of all solid waste disposed in Australian landfills or about 8 million tonnes a year.
“Residential building activity has negative impacts for stormwater, litter, local amenity and landfill.
“In Melbourne, the challenge of residential building activity is all the more dynamic with 620,000 new households planned under the government’s Melbourne 2030 and zero waste to landfill policies,” he said.
The Clean Site program shows builders how to reduce clean up costs, eliminate council fines and increase site productivity on their building sites.
Mr McLorinan said what was good for the environment could be good for building productivity and profitability.
“We have identified that simple Clean Site practices like fencing a site reduces pilfering, vandalism and insurance risks as well as restricting wind blown litter,” he said.
“Many builders automatically assume that a Clean Site is a more expensive site. This is simply not true.
“Most good environmental practices for building sites have positive consequential impacts for productivity.”
Some of the environmental practices include site fencing to reduce litter, theft and vandalism; aggregate stabilised entry points to lessen mud and obstruction of site by bogged vehicles; good environmental practices which result in less fines from local government; covered stockpiles which results in money savings due to reduced stockpile losses; a better looking site which creates a more valuable site and fewer complaints from buyers.
Mr McLorinan said SITA Environmental Solutions was also actively involved in resource recovery, landfill and transport solutions. He added that stormwater was still a focus of the program however resource recovery from building sites was also becoming a key issue.