The Ashdown Agreement on plasterboard recycling, signed earlier this year by the Gypsum Product Development Association (GPDA) and DEFRA, sets demanding targets for the recycling levels to be achieved by the industry in the coming years. Although they are tough, they are also achievable – a fact which has been clearly demonstrated at a major PFI project at Ipswich Hospital.

Critical to reducing the amount of construction site waste sent to landfill are careful control of board supply and sizes to minimise waste at the outset and the implementation of efficient site waste collection and recycling procedures. Not only have both steps been central to the approach adopted at Ipswich but they have also been proven to be cost neutral – clearly demonstrating that building in a sustainable way need not impact adversely on the industry’s financial margins.

The Garrett Anderson Centre at Ipswich is a new £26m, four storey, treatment centre, constructed for the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust by Kier Eastern. Plasterboard systems were supplied by Knauf Drywall, and the plasterboard installation contractor was BR Hodgson. They worked in partnership with waste and environmental management specialist Wastefile to complete the ‘recycling circle’.

Kier used some 22,000m2 (295 tonnes) of plasterboard on the project and was able to recycle some 81 tonnes through the waste management approach adopted.

The waste minimisation strategy for the development began at the design stage, with a system agreed which allowed the number of layers of plasterboard to be reduced and a limit to the number of different board types to just five.

Boards for the project were specially manufactured to match the three metre room height, to substantially eliminate the need for cutting on site. Infill sections at the head of the walls within the profiled decking were manufactured off site to the exact profile of the decking, again both reducing waste and speeding installation.

During the installation phase BR Hodgson took responsibility for segregating plasterboard waste and placing it in designated containers. Kier Eastern arranged for these to be collected on a two-weekly cycle by Wastefile UK so that the waste could be returned to the Knauf manufacturing facility. Here the company’s recycling plant removes the paper facings from the off cuts and produces a recycled gypsum product suitable for re-use in the production process.

Says Steve Wilson recycling manager at Knauf Drywall: “This project is a prime example of the way in which making waste minimisation part of the design process and putting in place practical measures for waste segregation can bring real savings. Co-operation between the parties involved meant it was a simple matter to avoid any significant contamination of the board waste, which is important to ensure it can be readily recycled. Kier Eastern undertook a detailed cost benefit analysis of disposal to landfill compared to a take back/recycling scheme based on 10 per cent plasterboard wastage and this also showed the scheme to be completely cost neutral.”

Crispin Dunn-Meynell of the GPDA adds: “We know that the combination of wasteful design, off cuts, damaged boards and over ordering can account for wastage of up to 25 per cent on site. It is evident that this can be very significantly reduced by adopting the approach taken at the Garrett Anderson Centre. If every major scheme utilising plasterboard takes similar steps then the potential for waste reduction will quickly begin to bring down the current waste figure which is running at about 300,000 tonnes a year. It is easier to implement such measures on large schemes but all plasterboard manufacturers are now also introducing ways to make it simpler to recycle from smaller projects, so every developer can potentially make a contribution.”

Email: mfarrington@golleyslater.co.uk