Limit construction litter

Auckland City Council Senior Waste Planning Specialist Mark Roberts shares tips to help construction limit their contribution to New Zealand’s litter

Litter is an irritant we all seem to see somewhere every day. We often think that litter simply consists of wrappers and cigarette butts dropped in the street. While this is a large part of the problem, building sites also play a part in the issue.

Whilst litter is generally defined as waste that is dropped, cast or deposited by someone, work done by Sustainable Coastlines and Keep New Zealand Beautiful (KNZB) provide some hints that building sites are a contributor to overall litter. For example, the 2022 National Litter Audit identified polystyrene insulation as having the largest volume of materials identified across four regions. Polystyrene is listed in what Keep New Zealand Beautiful describes as “the dirty dozen” materials.

Other construction materials such as wood and metals also feature in the top dozen litter items by weight, identified by KNZB. Sustainable Coastlines Engagement Manager Dan Downing deals with the raw end of construction litter escaping from sites, on the harbour and beaches with volunteers, cleaning up litter.

“We see a lot of construction waste on our beach clean-ups – from treated wood and concrete waste to zip ties and ear plugs. And
because we run litter surveys alongside every beach clean-up, we have the data to back this up,” says Dan. “The data show us that by weight, construction waste makes up around 20% of what we remove from survey sites. This waste is obviously not getting to where it
should be, which impacts the health of our marine environments and the ability for people to enjoy the beaches they love.” As residents move into development areas, it can also become distressing for them to be living surrounded by litter, escaped building materials, footpaths blocked by building materials and illegal dumping.

How to limit the litter

Construction sites can take some simple steps to prevent litter escaping. Ensure staff and contractors use the waste or recycling bins provided on site to put their drink bottles and wrappers into. Use toolbox talks to reiterate to staff that dropping items like cigarette butts or wrappers off site is littering and enforceable with fines. Maintaining a well-constructed silt fence will help prevent lightweight items and saw dust being caught in the wind and blown into local waterways. Avoid working or cutting on footpaths
and berms. This promotes littering and can be inconvenient for residents.

Berms also offer no options for preventing dust or cuttings from becoming litter. Any cuttings or saw dust from treated timber should be contained and placed into waste containers to prevent it being blown into the surrounding neighbourhood or waterways. Keeping a security fence around the site discourages illegal dumpers from using your skip to dispose of their waste. Taking a minute each day to check for litter, keeping items out of gutters and ensuring catchpit socks are maintained each week will go a long way towards making sure your building site is considerate of the local environment and prevent litter being an unwanted part of the building process.