London funds building waste reuse centre

The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) are investing £0.5m into a social enterprise that will collect unwanted construction materials from building sites and sell them on to the public and trade. The project is to be led by BioRegional who are based in Croydon.

The centre will not be based on selling high value items instead it will focus on saving building materials that would otherwise find their way to landfill sites or, at best, be crushed and re-used as aggregates. The centre will also include surplus materials which have come from building sites but never used.

James Cleverly, chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board said: "Last year London created a massive 9.7million tonnes of construction and demolition waste. Around half of this was recycled but there is still much more we need to do to tackle the rest which largely ends up dumped in landfill sites. This innovative project ticks all our boxes - reusing waste, cutting emissions and bringing jobs and real social benefits to the capital."

Construction companies wanting to donate their waste a worthy cause can contact the centre at jonathan.essex@bioregional.com

edie