SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO MITIGATE CONSTRUCTION

WASTE MATERIALS ON CONSTRUCTION SITES IN

PAKISTAN
Rafia Nawaz, Arooj Zahid, Hamza Iftikhar (Undergraduate students)
Final Year Thesis Project, Department of Architectural engineering,
University Of Engineering & Technology, Lahore

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
One of the major problems which construction industries are facing in this era, is the production
of construction material waste on the building sites. Construction waste has achieved an
immense consideration from investigators over last few decades and in this regard, a number of
journals and intellectual articles have already been published successfully. Even so, waste
material challenges are not acknowledged thoroughly by the authorities and professional
stakeholders. It is revealed from literature research, site visitation and consultation from site
supervisors that no specific data and waste management techniques from past projects are
available on construction waste surveillance for project teams to minimize the generation of
wastage on sites. Four M’s i.e. material, manpower, money, machinery along with the time factor
are main wastages on construction sites. However, as the construction materials are obtained
from non-renewable sources, therefore they weigh more as compared to other site wastages.
Construction practitioners more often lose track in determining the waste generation problems
occurring during project construction life-cycle. Materials should be managed rightly because of
the fact that a large amount of cost of a building project goes to materials comprising the
building.[1]

1.2 CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL WASTE

Throughout the world, construction industries define construction waste distinctively. Generally
it can be defined as “the solid waste generated as a result of construction activities being carried
out on building sites”[2]. The flow of this wastage varies greatly from beginning to the ending of
a project’s life -cycle. During the initial construction phases, the wastage percentage is low while
these percentages can rise to a significant level during the phases when majority of resources are
used. To reinforce the understanding of issues and causes of waste generation elaborately,
construction waste is ramified into five waste areas, which are labor waste, material waste, cost
waste, process waste and equipment waste. According to a study[3], almost 50% of earth’s crust
materials are remodeled to construction materials. It is observed from the studies that not all the
material ordered for a specific building project is used in construction. The efficiency of material
management depends upon the mastership of site supervisor and the construction company itself.
Most of the time, the project estimators add an extra percentage value for materials in order to
account for the waste during construction activities. This depicts a shortcoming of construction
waste minimal plans and techniques during the design and planning phases of project. Wasting
tremendous amount of building materials actually means wasting beneficial natural resources.

1.3RELATED WORK
Many research works have been done in different countries for the control of construction waste.
A number of waste reduction strategies are developed for this purpose. Most of them consist of
tools and techniques which can be adopted to ensure minimal material wastage on building sites.
These techniques include efficient material estimation for a specific project, systematic ordering
of materials, and timely delivery of materials, organized storage of materials and prevention of
mishap and redoing of activities. [4] A lot of theoretical and practical work has been done in
developed countries to implement the construction waste management principle. The principles
used in various studies for determining waste causes and management tools include RW method
[2], 3R principle[5], Zero-waste principle and Waste hierarchy principle[6] etc. This paper
focuses on the major causes of waste generation in Pakistan and the effects of material wastage
on overall cost of the project. Amount of waste is calculated by determining the differences
between estimated bill of quantities and actual quantities used at construction site. The method
gives an overall values of wastage of building materials including bricks, cement, sand,
aggregate, steel etc.

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Regional analysis of the buildings and their material loss lays out the basis of exploring
common practices in the construction industry. The research regarding material wastage
incorporates detailed material analysis in order to relate obtained results that could lead up to a
somewhat definite conclusion. However certain ambiguities are ruled out and not considered as
to keep the solution simple and directed. Following the original objective of the project, the
research method is divided into 3 major phases which shall be discussed separately in adequate
detail.
2.1 Phase 1-Literature Review:
Phase 1 of the project marks the initiation of knowledge building regarding the theme of chosen
topic. It helps keep the information up-to-date as well as integrate already published research
papers into the actual nature of work.
Literature learning helps understand the popular and more practiced causes of waste loss, it also
includes several schemes and campaigns already executed within major developed countries of
the world. An understanding regarding survey procedures, popular materials, waste areas, Cost
economics, construction constraints and dependency of environment issues is acquired as the pre
process material of the project.
2.2 Phase2- Site Survey and quantitative Analysis:
Site Surveys and related Questionnaires contribute significantly to the context of the work theme
and a minimum of five buildings are selected accordingly. In this regard at least one of these
features of the buildings are kept nearly constant for all buildings to carry out a logical data
comparison.
For this specific research, the Scale and Type of building were kept constant to ensure accurate
and precise results, “Building Type: Public Buildings (Provincial Government Punjab Pakistan)”.
A comprehensive and friendly data collection form is designed in order to obtain the significant
reasons of Material waste from selected building contractor companies. Moreover, few technical
and non-technical questions are co related to develop a full-fledged questionnaire. The concerned
personal of the companies are interviewed and asked to rate the questionnaire points within a
scale of 0-5 with. 5- Being the most contributing factor to waste loss and 0-Being the least
contributing factor to waste loss.
Consequently, this data is computed in order to confirm the regional practices and build the solid
core literature of the project, The Graph for every possible cause is able to compare and
determine the strategies, policies, mindset and fundamental policies of each contractor company.
The results of this phase surely reflect the major hurdles in sustainable construction industry of
government sector.
2.2.1 Data Analysis:
The final and most methodical part of the research is carried out through data analysis where
quantitative and qualitative comparisons lead to somewhat definite results .On site materials
considered for the research analysis are; Cement, Sand, Aggregate, Bricks and Steel.
The selected materials of construction industry are the major contributors to actual material
wastage and its adverse effect on cost. Five buildings are selected and respective BOQ’s
analyzed in order to put in writing the detailed quantities planned required for the project.
The quantities of cement, sand, aggregate, bricks and steel are calculated using standard
provincial material prices available at the official Punjab Government website. Following the
process mentioned above, the actual bills are acquired for the same buildings and a new analysis
is carried out in order to determine the actual quantities of materials used. Then quantities are
formulated and drafted into a tabular form.
In accordance with the above mentioned criteria, a difference in quantities of the BOQ and
Actual bill are formulated to obtain the percentage wastage.
%Wastage: [{Actual Quantity – (Estimated Quantity+/- Scope Adjustment)} / Actual Quantity]
x 100
The effect of cost during analysis of both the bills are computed in comparison,
Cost Difference: (Final Cost – Estimated Cost) in pkr
The results are finally computed for a definite amount of quantities in order to pursue the results
and display graphs.
2.3 Phase 3: The solutions which can be implemented to reduce the overall percentage of
construction wastage are suggested.
3. RESULTS
3.1) Average Percentage Wastage of Materials
Material Project 1 Project 2 Project 3 Project 4 Project 5 Average
Percentage
Cement 10.8 13.33 7.54 14.22 12.74 11.73 %
Sand 12.84 15.68 0 14.76 10.95 10.39 %
Aggregate 4.46 6.86 16.65 13.83 15.83 11.53 %
Bricks 10.41 24.64 16.65 13.83 15.23 16.15 %
Steel 1.29 4.00 14.71 18.33 16.51 10.97 %
Table 1
In table 3 and Figure 1, percentage
wastage of cement, sand, aggregate, bricks
and steel are provided in five public
buildings. Cement was wasted during
different phases of construction of these
projects as 10.8%, 13.33%, 7.54%,
14.22%, and 12.74% which indicates that
for this specific type and scale of
buildings, the wastage of cement ranges
between 7% - 14.5%. The average quantity
of cement wasted was 11.73% Figure 1
(Figure 1). The percentage
wastage of sand was 12.84%, 15.68%, 0%, 14.76% and 10.95% in the five projects
respectively. In project 3, there was no wastage of sand. The results from the quantitative
analysis of these buildings shows that the in most of the cases, sand wastage is above 10% and
the average amount wasted was 10.39%(Figure 1). Aggregate wastage was 4.46%, 6.86%,
16.65%, 13.38% and 15.83% which gave an idea that it was wasted in the range of 4% - 17%
and the average quantity is 11.53%(Figure 1). The quantity of bricks wasted in the construction
phase of these projects was 10.41%, 24.64%, 16.65%, 13.83% and 15.23% which provided us
with the range of 10% - 25%. Average percentage wasted was 16.15%(Figure 1) which
indicated that brick is the material that is mostly wasted during the construction of such projects.
The amount of steel wasted was 1.29%, 4%, 14.71%, 18.33% and 16.51% that ranges between
1% - 18.5% and the average wastage quantity for steel was 10.97%(Figure 1). These calculated
average values of material wastage shows that sand is the least wasted material and on the other
hand, the wastage of bricks is the highest.
3.2) Cost Effects Due to Wastage of Materials
Material Project 1 Project2 Project3 Project4 Project5 Average Cost
(Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs) (Rs)
Cement 157161 283035 267598 281166 679436 333679
Sand 47878 70880 136250 -83764 154066 65062
Aggregate 17230 37542 172370 89581 248289 113002
Bricks 330900 701968 237094 443862 1598357 662436
Steel 18565 200428 881079 -423297 1762765 487908
Table 2

Above shown table and graph indicates the Cost Difference in RS

MATERIALS

average effect of cost due to wastage of

Steel
materials. The average quantity of cement
wasted is 11.73% and due to this wastage, Bricks
the cost that is mostly added in the estimated
budget of the project is Rs. 333679.346. Aggregate
Sand which is the least wasted material,
whose average value is 10.39%, adds a Sand

Cement

$0.00 $20.00 $40.00 $60.00 $80.00

COST x 10000
Figure 2
small amount Rs. 65061.516 to the total cost of the building. Average amount of aggregate that
can be wasted during construction is 11.53% which escalates the budget by adding Rs.
113002.338. Highly wasted material i.e. bricks have the average percentage wastage of 16.15%
that makes the project over-budget by adding Rs. 662435.96. Average amount of steel wasted is
10.97% which add Rs. 487908.114 in the overall cost of the building. During the construction of
every project, some quantity of all the materials selected, are wasted. From the wastage of each
material, some cost is added in the estimated budget of the building which increase the overall
cost and make that project over-budgeted.
3.3) Causes of Wastage

In Figure 3, major factors that are

responsible of material waste generation
on construction sites are on x-axis and to
what extent it affects the percentage
wastage of materials is taken on y-axis.
After conducting a questionnaire based
survey among five different companies, a
comparative analysis of the main causes
of wastage was done as shown in figure 3.
The first main cause that is responsible for
wastage is Design and Contract
Documents that was rated as 1.6, 2, 1.6,
2.2 and 1.8 respectively by all the five
companies. The second major cause is Figure 3
Procurement Factors that contribute to the
wastage in these five companies by 2.6,
1.8, 2.4, 2, and 1.8 respectively. Third factor that is contributing to the wastage of materials on
site is Site Activity that was rated as 2.2, 1.6, 2.2, 1.4, and 1.6 respectively by all the selected
companies. The most influencing factor for waste generation is Site Management and it is
contributing as 3.4, 2.6, 5, 5 and 2 respectively, as marked by the companies. The last major
issue that is affecting the wastage is Site Supervision that is ranked as 2, 3, 4, 1 and 3
respectively.

4. CONCLUSION
The study inquired the percentage wastage of materials on construction sites of particular typed
buildings i.e. public buildings. Percentage wastage of each material used on selected buildings
was analyzed by comparing costs of materials purchased with the actual bill of quantities. This
comparison gave us the actual amount of each material wasted during the construction phase.
1. Average values for each material are:
– Cement: 11.73 %
– Sand: 10.39%
– Aggregate: 11.53%
– Bricks: 16.15%
– Steel: 10.97%
2. The effect of this material wastage on overall cost of the project comes out to be between
10,000pkr to 650,000pkr.
 3. The major causes of wastage acknowledged are unclear design and contract documents,
mismanagement of procurement factors, poor site-management and supervision. The
extenuation measures which can be adopted for these major cause are:
a) There should be an understanding and coordination between designer and the
client to avoid changes during construction phase. The change in design and
drawings have a clear effect on material wastage.
b) The material supplier should be responsible enough to deliver the required
construction material according to the project schedules and there should be a
proper storage plan managed by site supervisor. Most of the materials are wasted
due to poor or no storage plan.
c) Assigning skilled labor and professional staff is necessary to avoid wastage. Poor
staff assigned to an activity results in more wastage. Managing the staffing matrix
has a significant effect on material wastage.
d) The payment to the contractor should not be delayed as it results in suspension of
work which ultimately results into more on-site material wastage.

5. SOLUTIONS
– The coordination between client, consultants, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers
should be administered throughout the project-life cycle to lessen the waste generated and
to augment the methods necessary for management of this waste.
– For the productive hold of resources, Construction waste reduction techniques should be
adopted for proficient procuring and ordering of materials, accurate depository and
application of materials and on time deliveries by suppliers.
– Construction practitioners should reward the employees for what they save from their on-
site activities. The grant should be based on quantity and significance of resources. This
technique will be helpful for promoting waste reductions strategies.
– Construction sector experts can be educated regarding waste generation issues and can be
convinced to arrange workshops and seminars targeting builders in order to aware them
of consequences of material wastage and their effective management.
– Consideration of the basic guidelines from developing nations in order to study their
findings and what they have done so far for material waste management can be helpful
for identifying economically acceptable methods of minimizing total wastage.
– There should be a certain limit for material waste imposed by government departments
for particular projects. The projects exceeding this limit should be accounted and looked
upon to identify the causes which lead it to more percentage wastage.

6. REFERANCES:

[1] L. Muhwezi, L. M. Chamuriho, and N. M. Lema, “An investigation into Materials Wastes on
Building Construction Projects in Kampala-Uganda,” Sch. J. Eng. Res., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 11–18,
2012.
[2] N. A. Memon, M. A. Laghari, and F. A. Memon, “Factors Contributing to the Waste Generation in
Building Projects of Pakistan,” vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 95–100, 2016.
[3] “USEPA 1994 and ARPAD 2004.” .
[4] J. Y. Wang, X. P. Kang, V. Wing, and Y. Tam, “AN INVESTIGATION OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE
MADE IN MAINLAND CHINA,” pp. 128–137, 2006.
[5] R. B. Surve and S. S. Kulkarni, “‘Construction waste reduction – A case study,’” Int. J. Eng. Res.
Technol., vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 870–875, 2013.
[6] U. A. Umar, N. Shafiq, A. Malakahmad, M. F. Nuruddin, and M. F. Khamidi, “A review on adoption
of novel techniques in construction waste management and policy,” J. Mater. Cycles Waste
Manag., no. September, 2016.