Is it Wise to Work Professional Construction Waste Removal Service?
Trash can be a big problem. It can attract pests, it can be unsightly, and it can be dangerous. When construction trash builds up, you probably want to avoid handling it yourself. A trash removal service can help you get rid of all that garbage, and they offer several other benefits as well.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA defines construction and demolition materials as “debris generated during the construction, renovation and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges.” Additionally, the EPA has categorized Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste into three categories: non-dangerous, hazardous, and semi-hazardous.
Construction and demolition materials are created during the process of creating a new building or structure or when renovating or demolishing an existing structure. These materials are usually heavy materials used in large volumes in modern construction, such as concrete, steel, wood, asphalt and gypsum. There is also waste generated in the form of paper during the construction phase in order for interested parties to share various types of information.
Is construction trash handling a legal matter?
Yes. Different government agencies, have clear definitions on how each kind of construction waste should be managed, and disposed. It is actually illegal and it’s a serious prosecutable offense, to handle almost all types of construction waste improperly.
For example, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), asbestos can only be touched and processed by licensed asbestos abatement professionals. Asbestos abatement companies will properly test for the toxic mineral, follow strict regulations and processes, and carry the right abatement removal equipment to keep them, others and you safe from exposure.
Asbestos is dangerous because it’s a known carcinogen, and inhaling or ingesting it is linked to mesothelioma, asbestosis and other health problems. Although asbestos isn’t banned in the U.S., its use is limited. Asbestos abatement involves the identification, removal, repair and encapsulation of materials or products in a structure to eliminate the threat of exposure to toxic asbestos fibers. That’s why it’s best handled by a professional asbestos abatement company.
With improper disposal, comes hefty fines and penalties. A Framington, Massachusetts Company now owes almost $50,000 in fines after attempting to dispose of asbestos-laden building materials improperly. Laborers from this firm, a construction firm, tore out the interior of a multi-unit apartment building in Southbridge and hauled the building materials to an asbestos waste facility in Walpole.
Workers also failed to use air filtration during the demolition and loaded the lethal materials in containers that could leak the deadly asbestos strands into the air. It was discovered that the demolition was executed without first notifying the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is required by federal law when materials contain deadly asbestos.
The East Coast company’s fine appears minimal when compared to a Detroit contractor cited with an almost $300,000 fine in 2015. Crain’s Detroit Business reported that the firm, DMC Consultants, Inc., allegedly violated worker safety by endangering them when disposing of asbestos from two different construction sites.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) handed down 14 different violations to the company.
Asbestos spores are harmful to lungs. Any person exposed to asbestos spores may end up breathing them in. The spores stick to lungs causing permanent lung damage that can lead to a person dying in 10-50 years depending on the intensity of the asbestos dosage they were exposed to.
However, according to EPA, construction and demolition activities can generate a wide range of different waste materials. This waste is not just rubbish and unwanted material.
- excavated material such as rock and soil
- waste asphalt, bricks, concrete, plasterboard, timber and vegetation.
Conclusion.
Section 143 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 requires waste to be transported to a place that can lawfully accept it. Both the owner of the waste and the transporter are legally responsible for proving the waste was transported to a lawful place.
The owner of the waste and the transporter are each guilty of an offence when waste is transported to a place that cannot lawfully be used as a waste facility. The owner of the waste and the transporter can also be ordered to clean up and pay for such waste to be taken to a lawful place.
Relying on advice from others, such as consultants, contractors or managers of waste facilities, is no defence for transporting waste to a place that cannot lawfully be used as a waste facility.
As it is, it becomes very clear that handling and disposing of construction waste in an illegal way, can be very risky indeed for both the owner of the waste and the company doing the disposal.
Owners of waste can protect themselves from fines and hefty penalties if they can show they did not transport the waste and can prove that
- the offence was due to causes over which they had no control, and
- they took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to prevent commission of the offence.
If waste is illegally dumped and harms the environment, the maximum penalty is $5 million or seven years jail.
