INFORMATION FROM JEWSON LTD. RE BUILDING WASTE DISPOSAL

The Parish Council recently received a question regarding the disposal of the large bags used by builders to deliver sand and gravel to customers which used to be returnable but seem now to be left behind by the builder. The following reply was received from Jewson Ltd.:

"Up until a couple of years ago these bags where classed as a returnable packaging and we used to take them back FOC; we even put a free phone number on them to facilitate this. However; a couple of years ago the legislation on these bags changed. A Change in Health and Safety Legislation made the concept of a reusable Tonne Bag illegal and all of them had to be relabelled as 'one trip' bags. This change means they are classed as waste once they have been used and we cannot legally take them back so unfortunately they have become a problem for the building industry.

"To help this situation we have now ensured that the bags are 100% polypropylene which means they are both recyclable and degradable. This means that unlike polythene bags for example they do not sit in landfill for ever.

"Other packaging on building materials can also be a problem; just as it is with the packaging on the majority of products sold to consumers and Industry generally. To try and alleviate this issue we at Jewson’s have targeted our suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging on their products by 20% by 2012. We have had some good results on this with the amount of packaging in 2008 reducing by nearly 7%.Further more we have also reduced the amount of plastic bags we sell and we have also made them recyclable and degradable.

"We have tried to obtain certain exemptions on waste legislation from the Environment Agency allowing us to take back certain types of packaging (including the Tonne bags) from builders but so far without success.

"I think we have to accept that some packaging on building materials is essential in enabling products to reach customers safely and in one piece. What we can certainly do is try and minimise it where ever possible."

The Parish Council thanks Fergus Cameron, Rother's Recycling Officer, for obtaining this information from a local supplier.

May 2009