Waste and Resource Management is part of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The journal aims to publish original contributions on research and practice relating to all civil engineering and construction aspects of the resource management cycle, from waste minimisation through the reuse and processing of waste materials to the management and disposal of residual wastes. Papers covering relevant legislation, standards, and socio-economic and sustainability matters are welcomed.
The range of the journal's intended scope is beginning to be reflected in the papers that are being submitted to us for possible publication. In this second issue, we publish papers on the reuse or recycling of waste resources; the development of an electronic toolkit to help local authorities in the drafting of waste contract documents; and the attitudes of architects and contractors to minimising construction waste.
Bo and Yarde describe the construction of a flood protection embankment in Lincolnshire, UK, using about 1 million end-of-life vehicle tyres in bales. The environmental benefits of this were two-fold; not only did the project use about 10% of the annual number of tyres disposed of to landfill in the UK in recent years, but also the adoption of tyre bales as a lightweight fill meant that the width and land-take of the embankment were rather smaller than they would have been if conventional materials had been used. The potential legal, environmental and technical difficulties and how these were overcome are discussed, and it is to be hoped that this case study will give other engineers and clients the confidence to adopt similarly innovative approaches in the future.
The construction industry generates large amounts of waste, and although much of this is reused or recycled it is generally felt that there is huge scope for improvement. The paper by Osmani et al. assesses UK architects' and contractors' attitudes towards waste minimisation. Findings include a lack of attention to waste minimisation during the design process; poorly defined responsibilities for waste management in construction; and a lack of interest from clients. The paper highlights some clear opportunities for the construction industry to make real progress in this area.
Appropriate contractual frameworks can be crucial to effective waste and resource management in practice. Couth et al. describe the development and structure of an electronic ‘waste procurement toolkit’, funded by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help local authorities in the drafting of waste contract documents and guide them through the procurement process.
The paper by Chan and Poon presents the findings of a study of the use of general construction site waste in the manufacture of block pavings for residential applications. The site waste contained timber and bamboo in addition to brick, masonry and concrete debris, and would therefore generally be perceived as being of lower quality than the demolition wastes that have been used in studies of this nature in the past. Thus the paper has the potential to increase the range of waste materials that can be recycled in this way.
We include short contributions by two members of the editorial panel, highlighting some of the problems, challenges and opportunities for waste and resource management over the next 3–6 years; and this issue of the journal concludes with a review of the popular Practical Guide to Waste Management Law, by Richard Hawkins and Heidi Shaw.
I am pleased to report that the journal is attracting an increasing number of papers on a wide range of waste- and resource-related topics. I would encourage any of our readers with something original, useful and interesting to say to contribute a paper or a briefing article, or to submit discussion on an article already published. Submissions to the journal can now be made through www.editorialmanager.com/wrm.
