Demo home shows how to reduce construction waste

As part of an RMIT University research project, a demonstration home will be built in the Melbourne suburb of Melton to showcase building techniques designed to eliminate construction waste. Construction will begin with a ‘turning the sod’ ceremony on 19 August.

RMIT’s Centre for Design frequently collaborates with industry to provide sustainability analysis, strategy and design advice. In this project, funded through Sustainability Victoria’s Beyond Waste fund, the centre is working with Burbank Homes and the Housing Industry Association to develop ways to avoid sending construction waste to landfill; ideally by preventing its creation in the first place.

The Centre for Design and Burbank Homes identified design strategies to minimise landfill waste generation, following an initial audit that found nearly nine tonnes of waste is generated during the construction of a typical single-storey brick-veneer home. According to Dr Enda Crossin, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Design, this contributes to an estimated 250,000 m³ of housing construction waste sent to Australian landfills each year.

“Avoiding residential construction waste represents a significant environmental, social and economic opportunity for the construction industry,” Dr Crossin said.

Burbank Managing Director Jarrod Sanfilippo added that the home “not only sets the benchmark for waste reduction; it also represents Burbank’s ongoing commitment to reduce our reliance on natural resources for future generations”.

Dr Crossin concluded, “Waste management goes beyond recycling - if we can avoid waste in the first place, there can be significant environmental benefits across the life cycle.”