Potential Benefits from Practices in Construction Waste Material Controls

Construction waste generation estimates of institutional building projects: Leveraging waste hauling tickets

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to study the global experience of regulatory and legal regulation of construction and demolition waste management to determine measures to ensure the use of secondary raw materials from construction waste in Ukraine for the restoration of objects damaged and destroyed as a result of military actions and the construction of new buildings. The results of the study of the experience of developed countries regarding the attraction of construction and demolition waste for reuse and processing into secondary raw materials are presented. Analytical studies have established that Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and the Council provides for a target increase by 2020 of the share of non-hazardous construction waste prepared for reuse and recycling to at least 70% by weight, as well as promotion of recycling by selective removal of materials and creation of sorting systems. The direct requirements of the regulatory and legal regulation of construction waste management during the construction of facilities are outlined. In some states, direct requirements for handling construction waste have been established: in new construction, a certain percentage of products from recycled waste must be used; ban on landfills for construction waste that can be used for processing into secondary raw materials; the minimum area of buildings, during the construction of which mandatory disposal of waste is regulated; the minimum volumes of construction work are legally defined, the excess of which determines the need for builders to sort and process construction and demolition waste. The lack of specific target indicators for the collection, sorting, processing of construction and demolition waste, as well as the use of secondary raw materials obtained from them, was emphasized in the normative legal acts of Ukraine on waste management.

Construction and demolition waste generated in the Republic of Korea accounts for about half of the annual waste. The generation of construction waste is expected to increase gradually due to obsolete structures and reconstructions that have reached the end of their service life. Considering the geographical characteristics of Korea, where the land area is small and about 70% of which is mountainous, landfilling of waste is absolutely limited. Therefore, resource circulation such as recycling of construction waste is an urgent and important task. This paper overviews the current status of construction waste generation, treatment, and the flow of government policies in Korea. Furthermore, the current status, limitations, and stakeholder efforts regarding recycling of recycled aggregate from construction waste were reviewed. Data used in this paper were mostly collected from government reports, construction waste regulations, and research papers. The results show that construction waste management systems have been enacted and revised in line with social needs, and each stakeholder is making an effort to use the construction waste practically. The findings can provide valuable examples for countries that lack construction waste management systems.Graphic abstract

<p>With the constant rise of construction and demolition waste materials produced from the increase of building consents issued, several examples of projects utilize small aspects of these construction and demolition waste materials. This</p> <p>research investigates and explores how a larger scale project can be conducted in utilizing these materials. Michael</p> <p>Reynolds have explored this form by utilizing the natural materials and the general recyclable household items into his</p> <p>Earthship designs. By replicating this method from utilizing the construction and demolition waste materials, different</p> <p>construction methods and techniques are employed from these materials. The results of this investigation can influence in how different materials can be reconfigured and designed rather than the reliance of utilizing the standard manufactured items and materials.</p>

Prefabricated solutions incorporating thermal insulation are increasingly adopted as an energy conservation measure for building renovation. The InnoWEE European project developed three technologies from Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) materials through a manufacturing process that supports the circular economy strategy of the European Union. Two of them consisted of geopolymer panels incorporated into an External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) and a ventilated façade. This study evaluates their thermal performance by means of monitoring data from three pilot case studies in Greece, Italy, and Romania, and calibrated building simulation models enabling the reliable prediction of energy savings in different climates and use scenarios. Results showed a reduction in energy demand for all demo buildings, with annual energy savings up to 25% after placing the novel insulation solutions. However, savings are highly dependent on weather conditions since the panels affect cooling and heating loads differently. Finally, a parametric assessment is performed to assess the impact of insulation thickness through an energy performance prediction and a cash flow analysis.

In the context of Latin American cities, the management of construction and demolition waste constitutes a strategic challenge. Rapid urban growth and the constrained capacity of disposal sites are generating escalating environmental, social, and economic pressures. Since this waste is generated throughout the life cycle of the building, its management is inherently complex. Consequently, comprehensive planning approaches are essential to mitigate waste generation and advance the reuse and recycling of materials in the construction sector. The methodology combined a systematic review of existing approaches with complementary fieldwork, including a semi-structured survey, interviews, and on-site observations in three construction companies, to identify planning deficiencies and weak practices. Based on these findings, a five-pillar waste management plan was designed, integrating sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and best construction practices. The plan was applied to a high-rise residential building project with a total constructed area of 13,801 m2, where the baseline waste generation indicator was 0.32 m3/m2, equivalent to an estimated 4410 m3 of C&D waste in the absence of a structured management plan. The plan was validated through a 20-month high-rise building project in Santiago, Chile. Results show a reduction of 1905 m3 of waste (43% below projected volumes), savings of USD 12,273 (35% of the waste management budget), and the recovery of 735 m3 of materials (30% of the total) for reuse and recycling. The final waste generation intensity reached 0.18 m3/m2, demonstrating a substantial improvement relative to the initial benchmark and facilitating comparability with other projects through normalized indicators. These outcomes confirm the plan’s potential to enhance environmental performance, deliver measurable economic benefits, and contribute to the transition towards sustainable and circular urban development.

Management and Recycling of Construction Waste in Taiwan

Construction waste recycling robot for nails and screws: Computer vision technology and neural network approach

Vision-based method to identify materials transported by dump trucks

An excessive amount of construction and demolition waste is generated in construction projects daily. To avoid negative environmental externalities and to promote sustainability, it is necessary for the construction industry to improve its waste management practices at a project level. Analyzing large volumes of waste generation data created in construction projects can provide a valuable opportunity to extract actionable insights. In this research, construction projects were selected, and three different data mining techniques were applied with the objectives of (1) predicting the future volume of diverted waste based on the amount of waste generation of major materials; and (2) identifying trends of waste generation in different construction stages of the projects. Specifically, to achieve these objectives, this study applies multiple regression, artificial neural network, and clustering algorithms. Notably, this study contributes to the existing construction waste management body of knowledge by demonstrating the application of different data mining techniques to predict future waste diversion and extract actionable insights at the project level that help promote sustainability and waste reduction. Furthermore, this study allows industry practitioners to better manage construction waste by understanding patterns of waste generation according to different phases of the project, and predicting amounts of waste for diversion.

The classification and recycling of construction waste is important for reducing waste emissions, preventing marine pollution, and protecting the natural environment, which can promote carbon trading and carbon sink cycles. Based on the evolutionary game theory, this paper investigated the evolutionary decision-making process and stable strategies of three stakeholders in the construction waste recycling system, namely, the Department of Environment Regulation (DER), the Construction Waste Recycler (CWR), and the Construction Project Contractor (CPC), and analyzed the main factors affecting the stakeholders’ strategies, the evolutionary stable strategies and stable conditions from the perspective of public participation and carbon trading. Then, a DER-CWR-CPC benefit matrix and a replicator dynamics equation representing strategy selection were constructed, in which parameters represent the interest relationship of the three parties, and evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) points were obtained by solving the Jacobian matrix. Finally, the validity of the model was verified by taking the actual values into the simulation. The results showed that DER needs to actively participate in the early stage of the development of the construction waste classification and recycling system, but with the increase of enterprises choosing to recycle construction waste, DER can gradually reduce its intervention in these enterprises. Setting reasonable incentives and penalties, mobilizing public participation, and developing cleaner construction waste sorting equipment to obtain more carbon emission trading targets can facilitate the development of construction waste recycling systems.

The construction industry plays a vital role in the economic development of any country. Concurrently, the sector also generates enormous quantities of construction and demolition waste (CDW) that damages the ecology causing environmental pollution and deteriorating human health. Recently, various governments and other organizations realized the importance of implementing construction waste management (CWM) practices to attain sustainability in construction. The current decade can be called a pathway for achieving the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals in which CWM plays an inevitable role. However, accurately quantifying construction waste is necessary to successfully implement any CDW management plan. A detailed literature review for the current research revealed that limited information on the magnitude of construction waste is available in India. Therefore, the current paper proposes a practically viable model to estimate the waste generation index (construction waste generated per total floor area) of high-rise residential buildings in India. The waste quantification is being done based on the project documents and expert interviews. The methodology is later validated through a high-rise building with G + 18 stories located in Kerala, India. The study indicated that a high-rise concrete framed structure generates 122.3 kg m-2 of waste during construction. It was also noted that, concrete, aggregates and blocks constitute 92% of the total waste generated in the project. The developed model can also be used as a cornerstone for establishing a construction waste database at the regional level.

With the continuous advancement of urbanization, a huge amount of construction waste is generated in large-scale construction activities, which has aggravated the problems of environmental pollution, waste of resources and destruction of city appearance. Construction waste recycling can effectively solve these problems. However, the recycling rate of construction waste is low in China. Therefore, this paper, firstly through the way of literature analysis and questionnaire investigation, analyzes the factors that influence construction waste resource utilization, determines the key influence factors and the stakeholders in the process of construction waste resource utilization, and uses social network analysis method to identify core stakeholders. On this basis, this paper selects construction enterprises and recycling enterprises as the game subjects, and the government and the public as the external environment to explore the influence of the external environment on the cooperation behavior of the two stakeholders, and uses Matlab simulation to analyze the influence of external variables on the decision-making behavior evolution of the two stakeholders. The research results show that the government, construction enterprises, recycling enterprises and the public are the four core stakeholders of the construction waste recycling system, which have the power to control the information transmission among other stakeholders and play a great supporting role in the smooth implementation of the construction waste recycling project. Among them, the construction enterprise and recycling enterprise are the construction waste recycling system’s two stakeholders playing the pivotal role, and the government and the public are the external environment of the construction waste recycling system’s incentive and regulatory effect. The difference between the benefits and costs of the two stakeholders and the effect intensity of the external environment determines the stable state of the system, that is, the stronger the effect of the external environment and the larger the difference, the more the behavior of the two tends toward the recycling, on-site recycling strategy. Government penalties and rewards can effectively reduce the illegal dumping of construction waste, while excessive penalties and rewards have limitations in controlling illegal dumping. Public participation can effectively improve the efficiency of government supervision. The research results help to deeply understand the behavior, needs and cooperation of stakeholders in the construction waste recycling market, improve the efficiency of cooperation between construction enterprises and recycling enterprises, and provide management inspiration for the construction waste recycling practice.

Globalization and industrialization have significantly impacted the dynamics of waste generation, management, collection, and processing, resulting in increasing amounts of various types of waste and serious environmental challenges. This paper analyzes the treatment and recycling of construction waste through the legislative framework and presents key challenges in the implementation of green policies in the Republic of Croatia. The methodological framework is based on a qualitative analysis of normative acts at the national level. Through statistical analysis and a detailed review of the waste categorization process, including the origin, type, and properties of waste, as well as statistical data on the produced, collected, and utilized amounts of construction waste in 2022, an insight into the current state of the construction waste management sector is provided. The example of the company “Reciklaža Mišić” demonstrates how recovered construction waste can lose its waste status and be used as recycled aggregate if the assessment and verification of the constancy of performance are carried out according to the technical specification aligned with the legal regulations governing construction products. The research results indicate the need for further familiarization of the construction sector with the procedure for removing waste status so that recycled aggregates can become a construction product and ensure market placement of materials, thereby contributing to the circular economy and reducing environmental burden. In conclusion, the research shows that achieving sustainable construction waste management requires further strengthening of the economic sector, better integration of ecological principles, and active involvement of the local community in the waste management process.

Construction waste management and inventory are lacking in the Jordanian construction sector. With the dramatic population growth, the construction sector plays a significant role in developing the Jordanian economy. This article aims to develop a model to quantify construction and demolition (C&D) waste based on either project hyper-categorization or waste type, and to measure the degree of awareness and readiness of local contractors to benefit from C&D waste. Therefore, it classified projects further into construction and infrastructure projects. The construction project is also classified as new construction, renovation, or rehabilitation. These classifications help improve the management of construction waste. Moreover, a survey was conducted among construction stakeholders to increase awareness and assess their perceptions and readiness to adopt C&D waste management activities in their current or future projects. Finally, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was conducted to heighten major stakeholders' awareness about the challenges of C&D and to develop an effective C&D waste management plan. The results of this research can help both decision-makers and stakeholders in the construction sector properly classify their waste, reduce and manage generated C&D waste, and lower overall costs. Finally, the SWOT analysis identifies hidden opportunities to promote and develop a future C&D waste management at all levels. Meanwhile, revenue from recycling C&D waste is expected to be about US$4.2/m2 of construction.