1) The 10th edition of the South-East European event ‘Save the Planet’ has a well-established long-term partnership with EDA. Please present in brief the European Demolition Association, its main objectives and mission.
The European Demolition Association, EDA, was founded in 1978 and is the European platform for national demolition associations, demolition contractors and suppliers. EDA organizes every year activities to get together the demolition industry from all over Europe. The association has a strong focus on developments in Europe, which are of interest to the demolition industry.
Further, the EDA has amongst others the following objectives:
- To look after, promote and protect the interests of the demolition industry in Europe;
- To set and to promote European standards on demolition techniques and promote recycling of demolition debris; • To be involved in and have an impact on health and safety legislation;
- To be involved in improving the legislation concerning the removal, depositing and recycling of demolition debris • To exchange information on techniques, working methods and training;
- To maintain contacts with similar organizations in other parts of the world, e.g. Asia and the U.S.
2) Please let us know about the latest trends in demolition & waste treatment policies
The goal of the demolition is to recover spaces for new activities, but not at the expense of an environmental cost. It will be achieved working towards the continuous improvement of the environmental management system to boost environmental performance.
The demolition work must be done keeping in mind as priorities the environmental and health & safety measures for the workers. For this reason, it is important to make a preanalysis of the potential hazardous materials in the jobsite (previous to the demolition work), following to the applicable laws and applicable environmental regulations, without forgetting to boost awareness, informing and training personnel on environmental compliance requirements.
A selective demolition is the first step to improve and increase the amount of recyclable materials. In fact, the EU policies about the C&D waste treatment addresses to reduce the waste and recycle as much as possible.
All the stakeholders involved in the sector are essential for the chain to function properly. Suppliers and subcontractors must be involved according to the environmental services provided and their commitment to meeting the Environmental Management System. The workers also have a great responsibility in the demolition works, so it is mandatory to sensitize and train staff on environmental respect.
Not everything is recycling once the work is finished. Minimizing the consumption of resources and the production of site waste on site and encouraging the recovery of the same (where possible) along the job is a best practice we can apply.
All together we have the duty of putting in place a continuously improving pollution prevention process, in accordance with the organizational, technological, legislative and regulatory evolutions. It is also necessary to keep making every effort in organizational, operational and technological terms to prevent the pollution of water, air and land. The joint action of every actors of the sector will make possible to prevent accidents that can have effects on the environment and plan necessary emergency procedures aimed to efficiently and promptly limit impacts, in association with specific entities.
