Get Sust! Issue 34

Paying workers to cut waste really works

A study in Hong Kong has found that paying incentives to site workers can have a positive impact on waste reduction initiatives.

Vivian Tam and colleagues at the City University of Hong Kong followed the progress of a ‘Stepwise Incentive System’ (SIS) under which the staff involved in construction projects were paid for cutting waste – the lower the amount of waste, the higher the incentive. On this particular case study, waste was reduced by up to 23%.

The team assessed current methods used to encourage waste reduction, and from that devised a mathematical model for sharing the financial benefits of lower landfill tax costs. Then they tested their SIS on a live project – development of a hotel.

Learn more:

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See ‘Waste reduction through incentives: a case study’ by Vivian W. Y. Tam and C. M. Tam, Building Research & Information, 36:1, 37–43. www.informaworld.com