Table of Contents
Proper Ways to Handle Fit Out Waste
As a child, have you ever hated the tedious task of putting away your toys after a play session? Have you ever felt the excruciating pain of stepping on a stray Lego piece? How about missing a certain toy because you cannot seem to find them on the mountain of clutter piled up in one corner of your room? Looking back at these now, they may seem like nostalgic childhood memories. However, these are still very much true when it comes to the realities of construction and interior design.
Just as your parents expect you to clean up after your mess as child, society and the local government heavily urge you to properly dispose and handle construction waste and debris. Usually, after construction, there are a lot of used packaging, excess materials and rubble lying around the vicinity of your newly refurbished space. Not only would these clutters be bad for your business, but if left unattended, these wastes can also be harmful to your health and to the environment.
It is natural that after one creates, there tend to be some mess left in its wake. Artists create a lot of colorful mess after finishing a masterpiece. There tend to be a collection of dirty pots, pans and counter space to clean up after a cook whips up a delicious meal. Hence, it is only normal for scraps of packaging, leftover materials, and pieces of old furniture to litter your space after remodeling. However, how we dispose of these materials is an entirely different story.
If you are the type of person who sweeps the dust under the rug, then this will be unacceptable when it comes to industrial wastes. There isn’t a rug big enough to fit all the rubble and waste left after your construction. Plus, you might just find another use for what you consider industrial waste.
Technically speaking, construction wastes are not necessarily trash. These are just usually unwanted material produced incidentally from construction. Since these materials are considered excess or unwanted, most of these are still re-usable. Some of these materials are old pieces of lumber, metalworks, electrical wirings and construction tools such as nails and other products.
It is similar when it comes to industrial debris. Although these may not have much usefulness in its direct form, these materials can still be heavily recycled if disposed of properly. Some industrial wastes include asphalt, rubble, cement, and plasterboards. These materials can be broken down and utilized in other projects such as roadworks and other brickwork.
It is neither safe nor effective should these materials find their way into landfills. Not only would the solid materials take years to decompose, but they would also take up too much space. Should many construction companies and commercial projects dispose of waste materials like this, they would easily fill up landfills and waste valuable resources.
Since the enforcement of the 2018 National Waste Policy, it is also vital that we try to limit how much waste we produce. The policy highlights not only the importance of avoiding waste altogether but to improve resource recovery as well. One way to do this is by reusing construction materials that still have value and function and by recycling those materials that can be broken down into other forms to serve another purpose.
This way, we are not only avoiding throwing away these materials but we are also discovering ingenious ways to procure resources. The national policy also heavily urges people to use recycled materials and manage materials in a way that it benefits the economy and the environment.
Construction waste and debris removal may be one of the most challenging task that a redecorator may face. This would entail not only cost but effort on the side of the contractor. However, Quickfit offers you a great benefit should you hire our team for office fit outs. The Quickfit team are well-equiped and skilled when it comes to properly disposing construction wastes. Hence, should you have any construction needs, the team also offers our debris removal services.
Although a construction contractor does not necessarily have to tend to the waste left behind by the project, it is a responsibility that we must see to the end. Since landfills are filling up nowadays and resources are hard to come by, we must vigilant and creative how we dispose materials that can have further use for us. Learning how to identify hazardous from recycle material is a skill that takes experience to master.
Hence, here are some tricks of the trade on how to cut down your clean up time in half while also ensuring proper waste disposal:
Classify wastes into 3 categories: Reusable, Recyclable and Hazardous.
Learning to identify the usefulness of a material determines how it will be disposed. Reusable wastes such as pieces of metal work, old wood scraps, parts of fixtures and excess tools and materials can be used as they are in future projects.
Recycle items such as plasterboards, drywall material, pieces of rock, rubble and dried up cement can be broke down to smaller forms to be recycle. These can provide raw materials to create tiles, bricks or roadwork.
Hazardous items such as those with lead, asbestos and other biodegradable and chemical products need to stored, processed and disposed off properly before being shipped to landfills so that they may not harm human health or the environment.
Go for deconstruction rather than demolition.
Being careful and thorough in pulling apart and putting together your space will save materials from being damaged in the process. This method saves you a lot of investments by keeping your fixtures intact thereby creating the opportunity to be reused.
Deconstruction is also one of the more sanitary to have a clean and orderly system of disposing possible waste. Demolishing your space may cause materials to be damaged and creates unwanted mess. Stray particles or smaller trash also tend to disperse into the air and create a cluttered environment which will be harder to clean.
Ensure proper storage of waste.
If you feel like cleaning up will take days, ensure that you properly store debris and industrial waste in a safe environment. Make sure that these will not be a nuisance to the community. Avoid piling them up on sidewalks or leaving them out in the open. Make sure that you have space for storage so that waste disposal will be done discreetly and hygienically.
Hence, should you be planning a construction project soon, do not hesitate to reach out to our team here at Quickfit as we not only assist you in your construction needs, but we also extend our services to help you with deconstruction services.