Supply Chain Sustainability School launches MEP mapping tool to help reduce the volume of waste entering landfill
The School has launched its free Materials Exchange Platform Map (MEP Map), today, the 22 September. The mapping tool provides construction contractors and their suppliers with a central database of local MEP projects aiming to find a home for unused construction materials.
The MEP Map was developed through a collaboration of the School’s industry Partners and is a simple yet effective way of finding a home for unused materials. Partners involved in the development include BAM, Berkeley Group, Canary Wharf Contractors, Kier, John Sisk & Co, National Grid, Reconomy and Skanska.
The MEP mapping tool gives access to a network of Materials Exchange Platforms nationally, allowing the user to compare those in their local or regional areas.
As well as saving disposal costs, and potentially generating income, the tool aids local businesses and smaller contractors, by offering them access to quality materials at a lower cost, or even free.
Matt Nichols, of Reconomy, and Chair of the School’s Waste and Resource Efficiency group said,
“Awareness of the importance of a circular economy – based on the principles of designing out waste and ensuring that we efficiently use all the products and materials that we buy – is definitely gathering pace.
The MEP Map performs the crucial task of connecting those with excess materials and products to those who can make good use of them, therefore reducing the volume of waste we send to landfill.”
The MEP mapping tool filters based on location, MEP type and material information, and shows local platforms within 30km of a specified county.
Mark Turner, of the Supply Chain Sustainability School commented,
“Whilst Materials Exchange Platforms are not new, they are sadly very much underused. We hope that by providing this interactive map to our 37,000 online members, and indeed the whole industry, we can more easily access the platforms that exist across the UK, to ensure less unused or over-ordered materials end up in landfill.”
In its latest published statistics on waste, DEFRA reported that the UK generated 66.2 million tonnes of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste[1]. It is also estimated by Zero Waste Scotland that 13% of raw materials are discarded unused. And with many main contractors struggling to make 2% profit margins, the mapping tool’s ability to reduce waste will ultimately increase efficiency and profitability.
Most waste is produced onsite through; over-ordering, ordering the wrong thing, mishandling materials, offcuts, and unnecessary packaging of materials.
Access to the MEP Map is free, through a free membership of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, which anyone can join: https://learn.supplychainschool.co.uk/local/tlactionplans/resource_intro.php?id=4291&modtype=url
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[1] 2016 is the latest year for which figures are published by DEFRA -19 March 2020 update: UK Statistics on Waste.
Related links:
– Materials Exchange Platform Map, free to access
– Register for free membership to the Supply Chain Sustainability School
– About Waste and resource efficiency
– About the Waste and Resource Efficiency Group
For further information on the MEP Mapping Tool, contact:
Mark Turner: [email protected], Ph: 07972 398256
Imogen Player: [email protected], Ph: 07884 666778