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Achieving Sustainability in the UK Construction by
Reducing Waste Generation
Syed Faisal Ali, alis65@lsbu.ac.uk
London South Bank University, UK
Dr. Amer Ali, alia76@lsbu.ac.uk
London South Bank University, UK
Dr. Ali Bayyati, bayyatia@lsbu.ac.uk
London South Bank University, UK
Abstract
The construction industry in the United Kingdom has been the highest contributor to
construction waste (62%) as compared to other sectors. Such waste has a direct impact on
the environment and causes poor air quality, increases CO2 emissions, etc. The reduction of
waste will play important part in achieving the environmental and economic sustainability in
this important sector. According to Defra statistics, the UK is producing an average of 110
million tonnes of construction waste every year since 2010. While EU aims to reduce the
construction, demolition and excavation waste (CD&E) by up to 70% by 2020. This paper will
identify and discuss the key factors that contribute to the generation of construction waste.
Relevant data was collected from different construction sites. The data was then analysed by
assessing the site waste management, material procurement, material management,
material usage and wastage, in addition to the average amount of waste transported and the
volume of re-used materials. For economic and environmental perspectives, the reduction of
the maximum amount of waste from any construction project will contribute to:
Decreased removal and landfill taxes,
Reduced labour cost for the transportation of waste, and
Minimising waste going to landfill will benefit the environment efficient waste
disposal.
The findings of this research project will help better understanding of the major factors that
can reduce the construction waste within the forecasted targets and contribute towards
achieving sustainability in construction waste management.
Keywords: Construction Waste Management, Sustainability, Economic Development.
1 Introduction
Over the past few decades, the construction industry has been experiencing a serious issue
of waste generation. Although, many researchers are working on this issue and different sets
of frameworks are being proposed almost every year in order to control waste generation,
there has been no major breakthrough so far. Some strategies that have been proposed do
work to some extent, such as, Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP). However, this plan is
only implementable on site, when the project has moved from the design to the construction
phase. This indicates that there is a need to identify and reduce the possibility of waste
generation during the design phase. Moreover, Ekanayake and Ofori (2006) indicated that
wastes usually occur during design, operational, procurement and material handling. The
majority of these consume time and effort without adding value for the client thus resulting in
losses of material, delay times and execution of unnecessary work. Waste has a direct
impact on the productivity, material loss and completion time of projects, resulting in a
significant loss of revenue. The physical waste from construction contributes a significant
part of landfill, and studies show that 13-26% of landfill is construction waste, which
emphasises on the need for a systematic and more efficient waste minimisation method to
control the volume of generated wastes at different levels (Bossink and Brouwers, 1996).
This paper seeks to identify the factors that contribute towards the generation of waste.
For this purpose, waste statistics were collected from 3 semi-commercial construction sites
to analyse and highlight the factors that cause waste generation. This information will help
researchers to identify some of the main causes of waste generation.
2 Background Research
Waste can be anything which is no longer needed or useful. In construction, waste is
generated throughout project phases, irrespective of the size of the project, the value of the
contract and its duration, and the variety of building type (Adnan, 1996). Wastes are
generated right from foundation up to the finishing works, and emanate from sources such
as wooden materials, concrete, gravels, aggregate, masonry, metals, plastic, plumbing and
electrical fixtures, glass, and material handling (Napier, 2012). Approximately 5 to 10% of the
construction materials will eventually end up as waste. Cheung et. al., (1993) through their
study found that waste generated typically represents 10–20% of the total weight of building
materials delivered to a building site. Meanwhile, Bossink and Brouwers (1996) found that
the level of waste at construction sites, for instance in the Brazilian construction industry, is
20–30% of the total weight of materials on site.
Table 1. Typical building materials and reason for their wastage (Source: Hung and
Kamaludin, 2017)
Material
Factors contributing to
waste
Reason of waste generation
Plasterboard /
gypsum
Cutting
Use of products whose size does not fit.
Required quantity of products unknown
due to imperfect planning.
material stored in the wrong place or not
protected properly.
Ordering more than the
required quantity.
Unexpected damp due to
moisture in the atmosphere.
Timber
Cutting
Use of products whose size does not fit.
Concrete
Ordering more than the
required quantity.
Required quantity of products unknown
due to imperfect planning.
Loss during transportation.
Settlement of concrete on long
transportation time.
Scraping off
Method to lay the foundations of a
building.
Insulation
Ordering more than the
required quantity.
Required quantity of products unknown
due to imperfect planning; Or required
quantity not properly calculated during
the planning phase.
Left over pieces after
installation.
Brick/block
Cutting
Use of products whose size does not fit.
Damaged during
transportation.
Unpacked supply.
Tiles
Sawing consequently on the
design of the surface.
Attention not paid to sizes of the used
products in design;
types and sizes of the different products
do not fit.
Damaged during
transportation.
Negligent handling by the supplier.
Reinforcement
Cutting
Use of steel bars that does not fit.
In the Netherlands, the amount of waste for each building material lies between 1% and 10%
of the amount purchased, depending on the type of material. In the UK, a research indicated
that at least 10% of all raw materials delivered to most sites are wasted through damage,
loss and over-ordering (Guthrie et. al., 1998). Meanwhile, a study conducted in Palestine
revealed that 5–11% of the purchased materials were not used well and ended up as waste
(Enshassi, 1996).
3 Data Collection
The data collected from the 3 semi-commercial construction sites consisted of various types
of material waste. The collected material waste data has been listed in the Table 2 which
also highlights the possibility of putting these wasted materials to alternative uses.
Table 2: Waste data collection and measures for reuse, recycle and reduce (Source:
VivianTam, 2011)
Collected waste data
Waste
%
Possibility of utilising the collected waste
Material
Sub-Type
Reuse
Recycle
Reduction
Plasterboard /
Gypsum
Fire proof
board
21%
Reusing
gypsum for
other
purposes
such as
filling.
Gypsum waste
can be recycled
continuously to
make the same
product.
NIL
Acoustic board
Moisture board
Normal/non
fire proof
board
Insulation
Thermal
insulation
9%
Insulation
can be
reused for
filling gaps
between the
cavity walls
or for ceiling
voids.
NIL
NIL
Acoustic
insulation
Celotex floor
insulation
board
Bricks
Miscellaneous
8%
Can be
reused for
landfill on
the existing
site, if
required.
Damaged bricks
can be recycled
to make
aggregate for
use as general
fill or highway
sub-base.
Use of
cladding, if
possible
Timbers
OSB boards
15%
Timber
products,
such as
formwork,
joists and
deck
boards, can
be reused
for several
times.
Timber can be
recycled to local
and export
recyclers.
Using other
materials to
substitute
such as
pre-
fabricated
building
components
, drywall
partition
and
standard
wooden
panels
Joists
Cls studs
Deck boards
Cardboards
Packaging
7%
Reuse
cardboard
material,
such as
packaging.
Encourage
manufacturers
to recycle their
original
packaging
materials.
Use of
environmen
t friendly
paper, in
which the
composition
processes
will have
less
emission of
pollutant or
products
and
materials
with
reduced
packaging.
Floor covers
Delivery boxes
Electrical
wires
Miscellaneous
4%
NIL
Copper and
rubber coating
on the wire can
be recycled for
many other
purposes.
NIL
Plastic
Plastic
wrapping
4%
Reusing
plastic for
other
purposes,
such as
material
protection.
Used plastic can
be recycle to
local and export
recyclers.
Using other
materials to
substitute
plastic.
PVC conduits
and waste
pipes
Electrical and
plumbing pipes
5%
Can be
reused for
small
works.
PVC is
recyclable.
NIL
Concrete
Type C40, C30
etc.
4%
Reuse
concrete
waste as
temporary
work.
Concrete can be
recycled as
aggregate for
concrete
production.
Accurately
calculate
and order
quantity of
concrete;
Use of
prefabricate
d building
components
; Or
alternative
construction
methods.
Solid, precast
and reinforced
etc.
Screed
Glass
Miscellaneous
4%
Glass can
be reused
for
several
purposes.
Glass waste can
be recycled as
aggregate for
concrete
production.
Using other
materials, in
substitute
glass; Or
alternative
construction
methods.
Iron pieces /
Reinforcemen
ts
Beams
3%
Can be
reused and
cut into size
for smaller
structural
works.
There are
various steel /
iron recycling
yards where
these can be
sent
NIL
Columns
Bolts
Connection
plates
Reinforced
bars
Paint boxes
Miscellaneous
8%
Can be
reused for
filling and
pouring
liquid
material, if
undamaged
.
These are
recyclable, as
mentioned at
the bottom
surface
NIL
Ducts
HVAC works
8%
Can be
reused if
not too old
and has a
remaining
design life
as specified
by
manufactur
er.
Ducting mostly
consists of
galvanised,
stainless steel
or aluminium,
that can be
recycled.
NIL
The Table lists the percentage of materials wasted, approximately calculated from the waste
data gathered from 3 construction sites. According to the site waste management and
logistics team, there were 88 skips (14 cubic-yard skip on average) delivered and collected
from these 3 sites. Out of these 88 skips, 34 were collected from one site, 31 from the
second and 23 from the third. Considering the fact that a single 14 cubic-yard skip takes up
to 14 tonnes of waste, the total maximum load of these wastes sums up at 1,232 tonnes.
This in itself indicates the magnitude of wasted material that could have been reused
through proper planning and use of better strategy prior to the commencement of the
construction phase.
3.1 Mapping of the waste causing factors
Upon reviewing the material waste data collected in Table 2, certain aspects of the project
cycle were found where improvement was possible. In order to highlight the causes of waste
generation, a mapping of the waste causing factors has been generated where these areas
are classified into phases and categories (see Table 3). Details of the causes of waste are
indicated in the Table. Some of these causes were past published papers on waste causes
that have been gathered and thoroughly investigated in order to get to the primary cause of
waste.
In order to simplify the data, each cause of waste is listed to its respective group, as this
will give a preliminary idea of what past researchers had discovered in this sector. This
mapping evaluation can identify the severity of each factor based on the frequency of the
factors identified by past researchers around the world. There are 10 scholarly research
papers selected for this study and 54 factors behind construction waste generation were
found in the study. These factors are grouped into 8 sub categories of the 3 primary
construction project phases. Table 3 shows the mapping of the waste contributing factors
taken from some past published papers.
Table 3. Mapping of waste causing factors (Source: Nagapan et al., 2011)
Design Phase
Group
Cause of Waste
References
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
Design
Design errors
1
1
1
1
1
1
Lack of co-ordination
1
1
Lack of information
1
1
1
1
1
1
Frequent design changes
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Poor design quality
1
1
Inexperience designer
1
1
Lacking of waste efficient design
1
1
1
Complex drawings
1
1
1
Pre-Construction Phase
Group
Cause of Waste
References
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
Planning
Un-realistic project schedule
1
1
1
1
1
Discrepancies in the Bill of
Quantities
1
1
1
1
Discrepancies in material
procurement schedule
1
1
1
Construction Phase
Group
Cause of Waste
References
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
Manageme
nt
Poor site management
1
1
1
Poor planning
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Poor resource management
1
1
1
1
1
Poor supervision
1
1
Inappropriate construction
methods
1
1
1
Lack of co-ordination
1
1
1
1
Scarcity of equipment
1
1
1
Lack of resources
1
1
1
Waiting periods
1
1
Rework error
1
1
Communication problems
1
Lack of environmental awareness
1
Lack of effective waste
management plans
1
1
1
Non availability of equipment
1
Outdated equipment
1
1
1
Handling
Poor material handling
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Wrong material storage
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Material damage during
transportation
1
1
1
Poor quality of material
1
1
1
Equipment failure
1
1
1
Delay during delivery
1
1
1
Worker
Workers' mistakes
1
1
1
1
1
Incompetent worker
1
1
1
Un-ethical work attitude of
1
1
workers
Damage caused by workers
1
1
1
Insufficient training for workers
1
Lack of experience
1
1
Shortage of skilled workers
1
1
Inappropriate use of materials
1
1
1
Poor workmanship
1
Site
Condition
Leftover materials on site
1
1
1
Poor site condition
1
1
Waste resulting from packaging
1
1
Procureme
nt
Ordering errors
1
1
1
1
1
1
Error in shipping
1
Mistakes in quantity surveys
1
1
Ignorance of specifications
1
Waiting for replacement
1
Un-
expected
Factors
Effect of weather
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Accidents
1
1
1
1
1
damages caused by third parties
1
1
Festivities
1
Unpredictable local conditions
1
4 Discussion and Analysis
Considering the amount of waste data collected and the findings from Nagapan et al.’s
(2011), study suggests that numerous improvements are required throughout the project
lifecyle, from the design to the completion phases, in order to reduce the maximum possiblity
of waste. There is a need for maximum co-ordination among all relevant stakeholders
involved in the design, planning and construction processes, and meetings should be held at
regular intervals to address the issues concerning waste. At least waste minimisation can be
achieved through the normal practices of building work, such as reducing concrete by using
prefabricated components; reusing steel formwork; and recycling steel for generating income
(Shen and Tam, 2002). Although the reuse, recycling and waste reduction of construction
materials have been promoted for several years, environmental awareness is still not
satisfactory, likewise the support of different layers of management. The primary problem of
inefficient and ineffective practices of reuse, recycle and reduction of construction waste is
lack of understanding of how to treat construction wastes. Based on the discussions with
construction practitioners, several measures of reusing, recycling and reducing construction
materials are suggested in Table 2.
Further, it has been observed that a huge amount of waste can be predicted during the
design phase of the project. Hence, the designers can play an important role by coming up
with efficient designs where minimum waste is entailed. This is especially possible if the
designers and engineers collaborate with each other during the design phase. They can use
their expertise effectively to minimise waste during the evolutuion of the design by giving
their opinions on the relevant areas of the design.
5 Conclusions
Through the present study, which is based on a literature review, the wastage level for
different materials commonly used in construction have been identified, as well as the
common causes of waste. It is expected that these findings can contribute to improved
estimation of waste generation in a construction project from design to completion phase,
thereby enhancing the knowledge-based decision-making in developing appropriate strategy
for construction waste management to reduce the waste generation to a minimum.
The reported study, which takes the form of a review of the findings of research on three
construction projects, relies on professionals’ perception during the construction operation,
which represents a subjective assessment. Nevertheless, the presented level of construction
material wastage can provide interested parties or stakeholders, such as local authorities,
policy makers, government, as well as the contractors and practitioners with a basis to
consider in order to make more informed and sustainable decisions for reducing waste in
construction.
Moreover, construction waste is one of the major contributors to environmental pollution;
and this pollution generation from construction activities seems to be uncontrollable.
Therefore, the most commonly used and encouraged practice of reusing, recycling and
reducing construction materials need further revisions with a decision-making strategy or a
guideline.
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