Environmental Impact and Waste Reduction
On major demolition and civil projects, environmental performance is a contract condition, a consent condition and usually a public issue as well. Getting it wrong stops the job.
What happens before the machines arrive
Almost every environmental failure traces back to something nobody investigated early enough
Before work starts we want a hazardous material survey, a waste classification assessment of any soil to be disturbed, a services search, and a clear view of what the structure is made of and what can be recovered from it.
On a large project that pre-work determines the cost, the programme and the risk. A structure that turns out to hold friable asbestos in the plant room, or a slab sitting on fill contaminated by a previous industrial use, changes everything about how the job runs. We would far rather find that in a report than in week three.
Contaminated ground and hazardous material
Contaminated soil, asbestos including friable, hydrocarbons, lead, PCBs and underground storage tanks are all handled in house under our own licences. That matters for more than convenience. When removal, transport and validation sit with one contractor the chain of custody is unbroken, and there is no gap between two parties each assuming the other holds the paperwork. On a government or Tier 1 job, that gap is exactly what an auditor looks for.
Waste classification is the whole ball game
Every load leaving a site has to be classified correctly, carried by a licensed transporter and received by a facility licensed to take it. General solid waste, restricted solid waste, hazardous waste and asbestos each have their own rules and their own costs.
The temptation on any job under programme pressure is to push a marginal load into a cheaper classification. We do not. A contractor who does is handing you a liability that outlives the project, because the regulator holds the generator of the waste responsible, and that is your client, not the truck driver.
Dust, noise, vibration and water
Dust suppression on the structure and on haul routes, water carts, wheel washes, on tool extraction for cutting and breaking, and silica controls wherever concrete is worked. Noise and vibration monitored where the consent requires it, with the work sequenced to stay inside the limits rather than apologise afterwards. Drains protected and sediment controls in place before anything starts, because on a contaminated site water management is often the single largest environmental risk on the job.
Monitoring, reporting and the people around the job
We report as the work runs. Waste dockets and receiving facility receipts, dust and noise monitoring results where required, incident and near miss records, and validation reporting on remediated ground. If your project management plan has a format, we will report into it, and telling us at tender stage is far easier than reformatting six months of records later.
Large projects are disruptive and the people around them had no say in it. Truck routes away from schools and residential streets where we can, work inside approved hours, streets swept, hoardings maintained, and somebody available who will actually take a phone call from a resident. A complaint that reaches council can cost weeks, so dealing with people properly is cheaper as well as decent.
Perfect Contracting acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Traditional Custodians of the country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and future, and honour their connection to the land and ongoing contribution to society.