Supporting zero-waste building: A novel spatial explicit material flow analysis model for construction waste

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

Waste is considered as an end of city product’s life as well as a burden in modern society. The government of Hong Kong and Singapore are striving to improve construction and municipal solid waste management since 1960. At the same time, waste policies lead to social and economic controversies among citizen. How can we develop better sustainable waste management strategies? Will these methods lead to different level of environmental and economic problems? Whilst previous research in construction and municipal waste mainly sheds light on the methods of construction waste management on sites by interviews, surveys and case studies, few research has been conducted to study the digital information available in academic journal database and World Wide Web. This chapter tries to fill this gap by discussing (1) whether the government’s waste management strategies are sustainable; (2) the efforts on construction and municipal solid waste made by the governments in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Decoupling economic growth from construction waste generation: Comparative analysis between the EU and China

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

The construction sector is one of the main modifiers of the environment, since in its activities there is, essentially, the exploitation of natural resources, generating a large amount of waste. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of management parameters (term, contracting and costs) and constructive parameters (building standard, type of foundation and type of masonry) in the generation of construction waste. The methodology consisted of the following steps: definition of the parameters to be analyzed for the generation of waste in 15 works; data collection and processing and, finally, data dispersion analysis through the boxplot. The class was predominant A waste, 89.2% of the total generated; among class B waste, gypsum is more prominent, with 55% of the waste generated; in class C the mixed materials are predominant, with 64%. Regarding the analyzed parameters, the ones that contributed the most to the generation of civil construction waste (CCW) were: high work pattern (48%); incorporation hiring regime (58%); intermediate execution time between 36 and 45 months (49%); the foundation of the shoe type (36%); sealing masonry with ceramic blocks in the peripheries and gypsum blocks internally (58%).

Increasing construction waste has been a severe environmental problem globally. Adopting new construction methods such as modular construction is considered as an effective measure to reduce construction waste. However, few studies have examined the potential of modular construction in construction waste reduction. This study aims to measure the typical construction waste performance of modular buildings and identify the potential of construction waste reduction by adopting the modular construction method. The research was conducted through case study with seven modular building projects with the combination of literature review and empirical data. The construction waste from modular construction and other construction approaches was cross compared and analyzed. Results show that modular construction can effectively reduce construction waste generation, evidenced in the overall onsite construction waste generation index of modular buildings varying from 9 to 63.9 kg per m2 construction floor area with an average of 33.7 kg/m2, less than that of panelized and traditional in-situ construction. Compared to traditional in-situ construction, modular buildings can lead to around 80% reduction of onsite overall construction waste on average. From the studied modular building projects, a high reuse and recycling rate was found, in which timber waste and metal waste could reach up to 100%. This paper provides evidence that modular construction can effectively reduce construction waste generation compared with panelized and traditional in-situ construction. The findings should help encourage the uptake of modular construction in the building industry.KeywordsModular constructionConstruction wasteModular integrated constructionPrefabricated constructionHigh-rise building

The construction industry is known as one of the biggest generators of solid waste. Considering this, attention needs to be paid to construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Lebanon has experienced many situations that have increased the generation of C&D waste. Therefore, it is essential to manage C&D waste. This research aims to assess and analyse the importance of waste management plans and their impact on the generation of construction and demolition waste in Lebanon. For this purpose, an extensive literature review has been carried out, and a questionnaire survey consisting of five sections has been developed. Factors were ranked by using 5-point Likert scales. Additionally, four optional open-ended questions were also included in the survey for qualitative data collection. A survey questionnaire was sent to 80 Lebanese experts, and 50 questionnaires were returned. Most of the responses (i.e., consultants and academics) were from the private sector; results showed that respondents to this survey were biased for their expertise. Reliability and ranking analysis were performed on the collected data. It was found that “site management and supervision-related factors” are the main sources of C&D waste. The main barrier to implement 3R was the “lack of awareness and knowledge”, and the most critical success factor was “waste management regulations”. There is lack of data on construction waste in Lebanon. Therefore, there is a need to conduct research on construction waste management in Lebanon, which is the subject of the current investigation. This research is expected to generate benefits for the construction industry in Lebanon and the surrounding region.

The amount of construction waste (CW) at building sites is highly variable, for instance the CW generation index ranges between 50-300 dm3 per square meters of gross floor area. Today there is still a lack of knowledge about variables (building design, construction process, construction technologies, etc.) affecting the CW generation. The objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of multi-storey building design and some construction processes on the CW generation indexes. The CW generation was analysed for two groups of buildings with two different construction processes; one with plumbing and electric services installed inside the masonry element and the other with plumbing and electric services installed onto the masonry element and covered with water-resistant drywall system (reducing the construction waste generation). The gross floor area directly affects the amount of executed construction works in a building site. Since the most important works (concrete, masonry and cladding) for CW generation is related to gross floor area, gross floor of buildings is also directly related to CW generation. For buildings with gross area varying from 20,000 to 80,000 m2, there is a reduction of approximately 18% of construction waste only changing the plumbing and electric services installation system, from embedded in the masonry element to installed onto the masonry element and covered with water-resistant drywall system.

Solid industrial waste can be widely used in construction to obtain such valuable materials: as a filler and binder for the production of concrete, dry building mixtures and other building materials, for the production of building materials with protective properties against electromagnetic radiation and static electricity, for the manufacture anode earthing switches, etc. Therefore, the determination of the regression dependence describing the dynamics of the generation of construction and demolition waste in Vinnytsia region to solve the problem of solid industrial waste management is an urgent scientific and technical problem. The aim of the study is to determine, using regression analysis, the dependence that describes the dynamics of construction and demolition waste generation in Vinnytsia region to solve the problem of solid industrial waste management. The study used the method of regression analysis of the results of one-factor experiments and other paired dependencies with the choice of the best type of function from the 16 most common options according to the criterion of the maximum correlation coefficient. The regression was carried out on the basis of linearizing transformations, allowing reducing the nonlinear dependence to linear. The determination of the coefficients of the regression equation was carried out by the least squares method using the developed computer program "RegAnaliz", protected by a certificate of registration of copyright for the work. Adequate regression dependence was obtained that describes the dynamics of construction and demolition waste generation in Vinnytsia region. A graphical relationship has been built that describes the dynamics of construction and demolition waste generation in Vinnytsia region and allows to visually illustrate this dynamics, to show sufficient convergence of theoretical and actual results. It was found that in Vinnytsia region during the period of 2014—2018 the formation of a mass of waste from construction and demolition decreased hyperbolically. Such a mass of construction and demolition waste generation in Vinnytsia region in 2025 is predicted — 331 tons, and in 2030 — 223 tons.

Building industry as one of the greatest industries in Iran comprises a significant share of waste generation in the country. Since a large quantity of the generated construction waste is buried due to the lack of a recycling protocol, it leads to an undesired waste of resources and causes severe environmental issues. This paper provides a study on the problem of material loss/construction waste in the Iranian Building Industry regarding the impact of relevant shortcomings in the stages of design, construction and supervision as the main phases of construction process. This paper includes the case studies from Isfahan, Mazandaran, Qazvin and Zanjan provinces, with a focus on the most important elements underlying construction waste generation. It also presents the experts points of view on prefab and conventional construction methods considering construction waste generation through a questionnaire-based survey. In general, the results show that Iranian project managers, engineers, contractors and workers believe that from 40 to 100 percent of construction wastes can be reduced via application of prefab construction methods. The results indicate that prefabrication can be considered as a solution to waste reduction in the Iranian Building Industry, whereas there is a dominant conventional method application in the industry.

Understanding the effects of a construction waste cap-and-trade scheme: An agent-based modeling study in Hong Kong

Purpose. To improve the existing system for managing construction waste generated due to the damage (destruction) of buildings and structures as a result of hostilities, with the aim of developing a long-term, comprehensive strategy for construction waste management, taking into account current conditions and challenges. The methods. An analysis of the main problems and methods of construction waste management in Ukraine was conducted, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages. A construction waste management scheme was developed; a SWOT analysis (Strengths Weakness Opportunity Threats) of waste management in the Dnipropetrovsk region was carried out, taking into account regional specifics. Results. An analysis of the problems of effective construction waste management allowed us to identify comprehensive actions and outline the main ways to improve the effective management of construction waste generated due to the damage (destruction) of buildings and structures, taking into account the experience of other countries and the specifics of the situation that has developed in Ukraine as a result of hostilities. The originality. The processing of construction waste has significant internal potential for expanding the use of recycled materials in Ukraine. Construction waste management can solve not only environmental problems but also become a source of efficient use of available resources, open up new opportunities for business, create a market for secondary building materials, and contribute to the transition to a circular economy. Practical implementation. Integration into a new unified innovative system involves solving a whole range of issues and problems related to the need to improve methods of managing construction waste generated due to the damage (destruction) of buildings and structures as a result of hostilities. This will allow the development of a transparent legislative and legal framework, create an effective market for secondary building materials, rationally use available resources, solve important environmental problems, and implement large-scale restoration projects based on the principles of a circular economy.

Construction and demolition waste management and its impacts on the environment and human health: Moving forward sustainability enhancement

Estimation of construction waste generation based on an improved on-site measurement and SVM-based prediction model: A case of commercial buildings in China

The occurrence of defects in building construction projects is a significant issue, leading to increased construction waste and negatively affecting sustainability and overall project performance. Despite its critical nature, the specific relationship between construction defects and waste generation has been underexplored in the literature. This study seeks to address this gap by conducting a systematic literature review of relevant publications. The research followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, conducting an extensive search across databases like Scopus and Web of Science, which resulted in the identification and content analysis of 59 pertinent articles. The findings reveal that poor workmanship, inadequate planning and scheduling, and frequent design changes are the primary causes of defect-related waste. Additionally, the study identified 12 themes, noting that the quantification of the cost of quality and the association between defect, rework and waste have not been thoroughly analyzed. The study's implications are twofold: Theoretically, it contributes to the academic understanding of the link between construction defects and waste generation, laying a foundation for future research in this area. Practically, it underscores the need for improved industry practices, such as enhanced training for construction workers, more rigorous project planning, and stricter adherence to design and specifications, to mitigate defect-related waste and promote sustainable construction practices.