Developed by the BRE Group, SmartWaste is an innovative online reporting software that has rapidly become a popular choice for promoting sustainable decisions in the built environment. This tool aims to support circularity by recording and monitoring all data relevant to energy consumption, material selection, waste and water management on building sites to help reduce waste and minimize cost. The platform has particularly proven its success amongst construction managers, as it effectively validates the assessment of environmental impacts by comparing recorded data against industry benchmarks and produces relevant recommendations for each project.

The construction sector is an energy-intensive industry and has remained a leading contributor in waste production as it accounts for more than a third of all waste in the EU alone. Moreover, on a global scale, annual construction waste is expected to reach 2.2 billion tons by 2025 as most resources on site are directed to landfills without any treatment. Poor resource management in construction projects is a root cause of this issue and must be combated by better assessment of environmental impacts at every stage to ensure that all parameters of waste, energy and materials are recorded and accounted for efficiently.

SMARTwaste effectively addresses this problem by providing a single platform to collate all relevant site data regarding resources and their consumption in one place. This data can be effectively accessed across a supply chain to identify trends and areas of improvement as well as to track sustainability targets and project performance. The software captures data and facilitates analysis across various parameters such as waste generation on site, effective water use in mains and/or water discharge, carbon impacts and even cost. The platform can also help identify primary sources of fuel or natural gas on site through equipment or transport and promotes responsible and ethical material sourcing in construction. One of the more popular features of the software is its ability to prepare site waste management plans to ensure that re-use and recycling of materials is carefully planned and maximized by estimating the proportion of each type of waste to be produced, recovered or disposed from site. This online tool is understandably popular amongst construction managers and contractors as it can not only reduce a building project's environmental impact but also minimizes overall costs.

Several construction and contracting companies have used the SmartWaste management software to aid design and execution of their projects while reducing their carbon footprint. One such project is the Capital Dock development in Dublin Docklands developed by John Sisk & Son, who have used the platform since 2011 to measure all waste generated on site, as well as to capture data relevant to their Environmental Key Performance Indicators. The contracting company reported that the tool helped them maintain consistent data across projects and made information regarding excavation waste more transparent than before. Another benefit was the identification of ethically sourced material suppliers to help procure FSC compliant timber, which has proven to be particularly difficult in the past for smaller building projects.

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