January 30, 2006—A new project funded by the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), called BE AWARE—Built Environment Action on Waste Awareness and Resource Efficiency—aims to help construction product manufacturers make more efficient use of materials and processes.
The manufacturers will investigate their products’ design, manufacture, installation, use, and eventual disposal. BE AWARE will also look the wastes created at each stage of a product’s life cycle in order to find other uses for them.
The 30-month project will be undertaken by an industry consortium led by the Construction Products Association, and will be managed by BRE (Building Research Establishment). Others involved in developing, manufacturing, using, or disposing of construction products are also being invited to take part.
BE AWARE will look in detail at around 40 products to see whether waste can be reduced and resource efficiency improved. BRE believes that the research will show that the project’s approach could bring industry savings of up to 25%.
For more information or to participate, visit BRE.
