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With the concerns on the environment becoming a major issue, even home builders are now encouraged to practice proper waste management. This actually proves to be helpful not only to the environment but also to the home builders themselves, as they can also save a lot through proper waste management.

My cousin is a supervisor of one of the construction companies here in the Philippines, and according to him, with the right waste management; they get to save a lot of construction materials--even used bricks and cut-out woods--to be used in their next project. He said bricks, for one, even those already broken to pieces can still be recycled, to be used as filling materials.

If they make renovations or repairs on houses, and there is a need to break walls made of bricks, my cousin shared that they have to do it slowly to make sure that they don't break the bricks, as they can still be reused.

As to those other construction materials that are already considered trash, my cousin has also other ideas for them. He said he still keeps small pieces of woods or electrical wire, old nails, used glass windows and walls, among other recyclable materials, to his warehouse. He has actually made an aquarium from his collection of glasses, while those other pieces are kept for future use. According to him, no matter how small these pieces of construction materials are they will be useful in the coming days, either in his construction work or when he makes some minor repairs in his own house.

For other materials that are already in his stockroom for a while already, and he still does not see a way to make use of them, my cousin said he brings them to the junk shop to be sold.

There are several junk shops here in our place, which buy practically anything that can be recycled. Most of items, my cousin sold to these shops, according to him, are broken water pipes, iron or plastic, and sometimes rusted GI sheets.

All materials these shops gathered will then be sold to waste recycling factories, which are sprouting like mushrooms everywhere.

My cousin said there's actually a lot to be gained from proper waste management and waste recyclingin the construction business.

And in a way, regular practice of waste management and waste recycling also helps save the environment, he said.