The role of rental in sustainability

The European Rental Association held an online sustainability event on 31 March. This is an edited version of the round-table discussion, moderated by IRN’s Murray Pollok.

Murray Pollok (MP): Is the construction industry doing enough on sustainability?

Sue Arundale, FIEC: We could be moving faster, but there are some barriers. First of all we have a lack of availability of secondary [recycled] materials. Sometimes we have shortages and sometimes have problems with quality, and sometimes we are not even allowed to use secondary materials because the buyer does not want us to.

Second, we have the question of standards and regulations. There are gaps in terms of secondary materials and as the burden of responsibilities on the contractor. Contractors need reassurance about these materials and there are also issues around safety and around fire risk and toxicity. We could be going faster, of course, but there are lots of reasons, lots of mitigating factors in this.

Contractors do take it seriously…The larger contractors in particular have very ambitious goals, so they are very committed to the principle of sustainability.

Peter Jodansson, Volvo CE: I think it’s hard to say that anyone is moving quickly enough, but we need to be aware about this is a huge transformation in the whole society and the construction sector has an important role to play in this. But my answer on that is also that change take time...Sign in to continue reading.