A look at construction waste in Japan

Next door, three brand new houses are being built. There has been so much construction over the two years we have lived on our little street. Including these three, there are now 17 new houses and one new drug store on this street alone. That seems like a ton of new construction.

Everyday I have been watching (and listening) as the three new houses have been put together. It has been fascinating because while these professionals slam out foundation, walls, roof, and then all the trimmings, I have been building a shed in our own yard. The months it has taken me to plan and build my tiny one room was then fast forwarded next door by people who know exactly what they are doing. Their supplies of wood were already mostly precut when delivered. Power tools and safety gear then aided in laying everything out in the blink of an eye.  What took a day for me, I watched start to finish in less than five minutes.

I also watched day after day as the workers piled more and more wood into the dumpster out the front. They would cut what they needed, then toss the rest of the board away.

While designing my shed, I intentionally planed wall sizes and shelves inside so that I would have the least amount of left over material as possible. Probably 60 percent of my time planning was figuring out exactly how much material I would need in order to not over purchase anything. I wanted to waste nothing.

Watching how these builders work, that is clearly not the goal. Speed seems to be the priority over waste. While they didn't make mistakes like I did, if they did happen to make a mistake they easily just tossed it in the dumpster and started over. If I messed up, what I happened to miscut then became the making for smaller shelving later on. 

This got me to thinking about just how much waste comes out of construction in Japan. Of all industrial waste, construction waste accounts for 20%. That is a large chunk of waste.  Reducing the amount of initial waste in the first place is a key method for how Japan is trying to improve its construction waste. Having precut wood reduces mistakes as well as increasing more precise calculation for materials needed, just like what I had done when planning my shed. Watching how the workers focused on time instead of materials made me wonder how well this is being implemented. However compared to the 90's, Japan is generating 1/4th what it was.

The other step taken to reduce waste is recycling and this is where Japan seems to be doing pretty nicely. Most types of waste from concrete to wood has a 95 to 99 % recycling rate. 

I am glad I went and looked into construction waste here. It is nice to know that there is a lot actually going on to control how much is wasted.