Construction Plastics Initiative Final Report

The Problem

Packaging from industrial, commercial, and institutional sources represents 52% of plastic packaging waste generated in Canada. Studies from Europe estimate that approximately 80% of the plastic waste from on-site construction activities is clean packaging and can be easily diverted from landfills. The remainder comes from excess product, offcuts and wastage of plastic building products, including some hard-to-manage plastics.

The current linear model

Plastics are generated at virtually every stage of a construction or renovation project. The majority of plastics are packaging used to deliver materials on site. The construction sector currently follows a linear model. Packaging, excess product and offcuts are co-mingled with other construction waste and landfilled or incinerated.

Creating a circular model

The Construction Plastics Initiative takes a different approach viewing plastics as a resource that can be preserved and repurposed. The project diverted more than 38,000kg of plastics from eight construction sites across the Lower Mainland, sorted, tracked the materials by resin type.

A portion of the material was then processed and reused in the manufacturing of an innovative, high-value building product -- InfinaNetTM -- a proprietary solution used to displace concrete in concrete slab floors in multi-unit residential buildings.

Click here to access the report.