Construction firm Breen is focused on educating employees, sub contractors and suppliers to reduce waste, and is moving towards more sustainable practices, despite being in one of the largest waste-producing industries in New Zealand.

Breen Central regional manager Kelvin Mulqueen said sorting waste was now second nature on the firm’s 90 or so sites across the lower part of the South Island. 

“Foreman and project managers use an app to order specific bin types…They swap in and out and different stages during the work.”

Kelvin Mulqueen 

Breen has partnered with Waste Management New Zealand (WMNZ), which collects and recycles construction waste on Breen sites.

The company gets monthly reports showing percentage recycled versus percentage waste-to-landfill each month.

Kelvin said they started from a low base, with little being recycled but uptake was improving and staff were keen.

“It’s visible as what was once a nine cubic metre skip on a site, is now down to a three metre one for landfill.

“Yes there is the bin hire cost, but there is no labour difference, you’d be throwing it in a bin anyway.”

Kelvin said more and more types of building materials are separated, then recycled or reused.

“We have bins for steel, PVC pipe, untreated timber, clear plastics, polystyrene, gib, cardboard, glass and then [one for] concrete or what needs to go to landfill.” 

Examples of the bins separating building materials

Donating items after demolition has been another local success to keep items out of landfill.

Kelvin said the stage one demolition work on Wānaka’s Edgewater resort did not go to waste.

All the components such as taps, toilets, basins, and kitchen cabinetry were stripped from 25 units and rehomed via community pages on social media.  

Small amounts of building materials are gifted to community focused groups such as Menz shed, or kindergartens for their use too.

Sensible design decisions are made by Breen in-house designers, along with careful ordering of “products in sizes fit for purpose” to minimise waste.

Kelvin said taking the lead is where they want to be.

“We educate our [subcontractors], they then go to other sites for smaller firms and ask ‘where is the cardboard bin?’... hopefully this will lead to a more standardised system.”

Watch Kelvin talk about Breen and waste minimisation here.

Is your workplace working hard to minimise waste or recover materials? Let us know what you are doing, email [email protected]