Website maps sites to swap waste building materials

A website mapping UK construction activity plans to reduce building waste by making it easier for companies to securely identify and transfer unused or unwanted materials between sites.

Launched today, the Earth Exchange website works with Google maps to show where present and future building sites with available soil and aggregates are in the UK. By registering, users can upload information about material they have or specify what they need and search to find a company with a surplus.

Operations director Alex Albon explained that companies can use the website to update materials they want to import or export, so the levels of material available change in real time.

It tells people who could reuse their material before it has even become surplus, he said.

We were pleased when Site Waste Management Plans were introduced because we felt it was written for us! No one has ever done this across the UK. We are not auctioning the material and we dont want to get involved in the brokering and selling of this material. We are dealing with big heavy, bulk materials.

We are trying to answer the: Who needs what and when, scenario.

He said that the site could develop to include chemical test results but added that this was more complicated because its specific for each local authority.

At the moment were just getting people to talk to each other, he said

Albon said the website already has 1,800 operational construction sites listed in its database.

For more information visit: www.earthexchange.com

Image: Earth Exchange's operations director Alex Albon (front) with managing director Des Kelly