Waste Management | sustainsurveying

WASTE MANAGEMENT

From waste management to resource efficiency

Waste management is an important component of sustainable land, property and construction.

Traditionally, waste management has focused primarily on the collection, treatment and disposal of materials. Increasingly, however, attention is shifting towards resource efficiency and the circular economy — reducing the use of resources, preventing waste from being created and keeping buildings, components and materials in productive use for as long as possible.

For the built environment, this means considering materials and waste throughout the lifecycle of a property or project rather than treating waste simply as an issue to be addressed at the point of disposal.

Waste Management and Surveying

Surveyors can play an important role in improving the way resources and materials are managed across land, property and construction.

Decisions made during design, procurement, construction, refurbishment, maintenance and eventual deconstruction can influence both the quantity of waste generated and the potential for buildings and materials to be retained, reused or recovered.

This creates connections between waste management and many established areas of surveying practice, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, procurement, property management, development and environmental surveying.

RICS increasingly emphasises the role that surveyors can play in enabling more circular approaches to the built environment, including preserving and adapting existing buildings, encouraging material reuse and considering resource efficiency throughout the asset lifecycle.

RICS – How surveyors can enable the circular economy

The Waste Hierarchy

An important principle of sustainable waste management is the waste hierarchy.

Rather than beginning with the question of how waste should be disposed of, the hierarchy encourages consideration of whether waste can be avoided in the first place.

This places priority on prevention, followed by preparing materials for reuse, then recycling, other forms of recovery, with disposal as the least preferred option.

Applying the hierarchy early in the decision-making process can reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources and potentially reduce project costs.

The Circular Economy

The circular economy takes this thinking further.

The conventional linear model of take – make – use – dispose relies upon continued extraction of resources and generates significant quantities of waste.

A circular approach seeks instead to retain the value embodied within buildings, products and materials for as long as possible.

For land, property and construction this can mean extending the life of existing buildings, adapting rather than demolishing, designing for flexibility and future reuse, recovering building components, using reclaimed or recycled materials and considering what will happen to materials at the end of their current use.

This also creates an important connection between waste, resources and carbon. Reusing an existing building or component can avoid some of the environmental impacts associated with extracting raw materials and manufacturing replacements. RICS has highlighted this connection between circularity, material reuse and decarbonisation.

Waste Management in Practice

Waste and resource considerations may arise throughout the lifecycle of a project or property and can include:

waste prevention and reduction
resource efficiency
reuse and recovery of materials
recycling and responsible disposal
refurbishment and adaptation of existing buildings
sustainable procurement
construction and demolition waste
circular-economy principles
embodied carbon and material choices
environmental regulation and duty of care
organisational waste and resource strategies.

The appropriate approach will depend upon the nature, scale and location of the project and the applicable regulatory requirements.

A Changing Regulatory Context

Waste and recycling requirements continue to evolve. In England, Simpler Recycling has introduced more consistent requirements for separating recyclable materials across workplaces and households. Workplace requirements changed from March 2025, with transitional arrangements for micro-firms until March 2027, while household requirements came into force from 31 March 2026.

This forms part of a wider shift towards treating materials as resources and moving away from linear patterns of consumption and disposal.

UK Government – Simpler Recycling guidance for workplaces

Waste Management and Sustainability

Waste management cannot be considered independently of wider sustainability objectives.

Material consumption is connected to carbon emissions, natural-resource extraction, biodiversity, pollution, procurement and the economic performance of projects and assets.

RICS's 2026 Sustainability practice for surveyors identifies circularity and resource use as important elements of sustainable surveying practice and highlights the role of surveyors in reducing waste and resource extraction through circular-economy approaches.

RICS – Sustainability practice for surveyors

Sustain Surveying and Waste Management

Sustain Surveying provides independent professional analysis and advice on waste, resource efficiency and circular-economy considerations affecting land, property, construction and organisations.

Our approach brings together surveying expertise, sustainability research, RICS standards and guidance, government policy and wider professional evidence to help clients identify and understand waste and resource issues relevant to a particular property, project or decision.

Advice may include identifying waste and resource considerations; reviewing opportunities for waste prevention, reuse and resource efficiency; interpreting relevant policy and professional guidance; considering connections between materials, carbon and sustainability; and integrating waste and circular-economy principles within wider property and sustainability decision-making.

Where specialist technical, regulatory or waste-management services are required, the need for appropriately qualified specialist input will be identified.

Further Insight

Sustain Surveying founder Dr Gregory Borne MRICS CEnv has contributed professional material on waste management to the RICS iSurv Sustainability resource.

RICS iSurv – Waste Management

Discuss a Waste or Resource Issue

If you would like to discuss waste, resource efficiency or circular-economy considerations affecting a property, development, construction project or organisation, please contact Sustain Surveying.

Professional advice can be provided for a defined project or instruction, with the scope and fee agreed in advance.

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