The Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE, signs up to a Waste Resource Action Plan

(ICE) has joined a number of leading organisations in signing up to a Waste Resource Action Plan (WRAP) voluntary commitment, to half the amount of waste going to landfill by 2012.

The target of reducing construction, demolition and excavation waste to landfill by 50% by 2012 was established by joint industry and Government initiative ‘Strategy for Sustainable Construction’ in October 2008 and the Strategic Forum for Construction adopted it for the UK construction industry.

WRAP’s ‘Half Waste to Landfill’ voluntary agreement provides a framework for the construction industry to publicly support the target and do their bit in meeting it.

Signing up to the voluntary agreement means ICE will be committing to:

Advocating setting targets for reducing waste to landfill
Supporting and encouraging sustainable procurement and supply chain engagement
Embedding good practice within guidance to our members
Encouraging a consistent approach to measuring performance; and
Promoting annual reporting on overall corporate performance among our members.

ICE president Jean Venables OBE, signed the commitment ahead of a special one year on event held by WRAP on 15 October, to highlight the milestones and achievements since the agreement was launched.

She said: "ICE fully supports WRAP in driving down waste within construction. ICE has for some time, been pushing for a move towards a ‘Resource Management’ economy and moving away from burying valuable material in landfill forms a key part of that. We believe there is opportunity to recover more value from what is now landfill waste, creating jobs and reducing the burden on the environment."

"We look forward to working with WRAP and doing our bit", she added.