Reducing waste

Imperial College London has signed a voluntary agreement that will see it halve the amount of construction waste it sends to landfill by 2012.

The college has signed up to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and has set targets to reduce the amount of construction, demolition and excavation waste sent to landfill.

Imperial is currently spending £100m a year on constructing new buildings and refurbishing existing buildings across the college's campuses.

As well as reusing and recycling waste, the college is developing guidelines for future construction projects that include working with materials that are renewable and long lasting, as well as designing buildings efficiently in order to generate less waste.

In addition to the agreement focusing on construction waste, Imperial's Facilities Management and Building Projects teams are working on other waste management initiatives. These include a timber recovery area on the South Kensington campus, which will reuse or convert waste timber into energy for heating.