Environmental issues
Waste not want not
Just one example for you - the original drive here was covered in these horrible old concrete hp slabs that were destined for landfill normally but we decided that we could reuse them as part of our sub base so they live on in another capacity. Probably about 3 skips worth of materials that did not have to be disposed of and another 3 skips worth of materials that will not need to be dug from a quarry.
For very many years we have thought carefully about our impact on the environment, after all our work directly effects it in ways that other works don’t and the benefits and omissions of our works are immediately visible. Long before it was fashionable to be environmentally friendly we were diligently recycling concrete from our jobs back on the site that it was dug up from if at all possible. This was more from a point of view that the whole process of digging out old concrete from a site , shipping it out to landfill and inevitably bringing more concrete back on site to replace it seemed very wasteful which never sat well with us. This does take a bit more time and inevitably cost but is so worth it where this can be done.
Timber from old decks is a more complicated problem in that it is usually very rotten and not always suitable for reuse. This means that if it is really rotten it will be sent for recycling into compost/wood chips although we do have to be careful with treated timber which needs to be disposed of via the relevant authority. Good short lengths of untreated timber are occasionally used for firewood and this Autumn I manufactured beehives from Cedar offcuts so you never know where your timber leftovers are going to end up or what new life they may lead!
All of the timber specified by us will be FSC or PEFC certified, we use no other sources.
The other thing that will have an impact on the environment is the quality of materials and the quality of the build. Put simply a better designed and constructed job will last longer before it needs replacement - and that equals using less resources and in the long term will be cheaper for the client.