1.

0 INTRODUCTION

Construction wastes have become a pressing issue in many developing countries. It

causes an adverse effect especially on environment, economy and social aspect. As we all
know, in any development of a country, construction industry plays a key role in socio-
economic. Nowadays, due to the rapid increase in standard of living such as needs of
infrastructure projects, changes in consumption hats and the increase in population,
construction industry has begun to expand in a way that contribute as well to the waste
generation. This has become a noticeable issue in all nation.
In addition, construction waste and other wastes as well tend to bring losses towards
the natural resources. It is also well known that construction industry has always contribute to
the negative impact of environment and pollution (Tam and Tam 2008; Lu and Yuan 2011).
For example, 38% of the waste in Australia were generated from construction and demolition
sector (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010). According to Lu and Yuan (2010), meanwhile in
China, 30% of the municipal is produced and 40% of the waste portion are generated from the
construction activities.
Furthermore, construction industry generates a lot of solid waste every year. The
offcuts from construction, unused construction materials such as steel, wood, tile, and floor
slab that are always end up in landfill. Due to this, it is recommended to manage the
construction waste in a sustainable manner. Thus, in order to avoid and reduce construction
waste, a sustainable consumption and strategic waste management based on resource
recovery, waste avoidance and efficient material use with less embodied energy. Basically,
the objective is to target for zero waste which means there will be no waste with the
transformation, reuse and material recycling (Lehman et al. 2013).
According to Kibert (2003), he explained that there are seven principles in sustainable
construction. These seven principles are:
1. Reducing
2. Reusing
3. Recycling
4. Protecting nature in all activities
5. Eliminating toxic substances from construction
6. Applying life cycle economics in decision making
7. Creating quality built environment.
Construction waste can be categorised into two groups that is physical and non-physical
waste.

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 Execution of waste management in attaining sustainable construction still not assist
the stakeholder practices it in the construction. According to Hassan et. al. (2012), lack of
knowledge about construction waste management constituted as one of the barriers in
attaining towards sustainability. It is also supported by Shafii (2006) who stated that lack of
demonstration of tools and approach being difficult for stakeholders to deal with the waste
created during construction. It might be caused of several complicated activities in construction
associated with aspect planning which probably reflect to three main important elements in
construction which are time, money and material (Sarker et. al., 2012). Table 1.0 below shows
the current problems regarding to waste management strategy in the construction industry.
Through the issues, the waste management strategy implementation model is felt urgent to
tackle the issue.

The Rationale of Waste Management Strategy References

Implementation Model
A lack of an industry norm or performance standard for Teo and Loosemore, 2001
managing waste causing uncertainty and confusion among
operatives about waste management relative importance.
A proper methods/strategy is an urgent demand to improve Hao et. al., 2007
construction management to realize the mission of
sustainable development.
A lack of consideration given to waste reduction during Ping et. al., 2009
planning and design stage, well-established waste
minimization strategic model and adoption of it will help much
on it.
An effective material control strategy should be implemented Poon et. al., 2004
to control wastage during the life cycle of the construction
process.
A lack of experience, inadequate planning and scheduling Nagapan et. al., 2012
may cause construction waste are poor management and
handling.

Table 1.0: The Rationale of Waste Management Strategy Implementation Model

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2.0 SUSTAINABLE ISSUES RELATED TO CONSTRUCTION WASTE

Construction waste is a global issues that give negative impact towards the overall
performance of project as well to the environment, economy and social aspects. A further
discussion regarding on sustainable issues that arise due to construction waste will be
discussed.

2.1 ENVIRONMENT

Obviously, construction waste if it is not manage properly will affect the environment.
For example, uncontrolled construction waste and other wastes as well, may increase the
usage of landfill sites. A study made by Yeo and Hwang (2011), shows that more than 50% of
the landfill in Singapore were from the construction industry. In addition to that, the
construction waste occupied almost 26% of the landfill (Bossink and Brouwers, 1996). The
increase of the landfill may cause soil and water pollution if it is not treated properly. Example
of the environment issues that may arise from the uncontrolled construction waste are:

2.1.1 Air pollution and atmospheric effects

Construction waste usually generate high amount of dust that may cause air pollution.
Besides that, construction waste may contain hazardous material such as paints that contain
mercury-based biocides and asbestos insulation. All these hazardous material are dangerous
towards the environment if it is not dispose properly. Besides that, incinerations of construction
waste may lead to air pollution.

Other than that, the increase of construction waste will indirectly increase the burden of
landfills. As known, landfills may contain toxic gases such as methane gas which is natural
produced in the organic matter decay. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
recorded that methane may able to trap solar radiation 20 times effective than carbon dioxide
(CO2). These will increase the global temperatures and the green house effects.

2.1.2 Water pollution

Construction waste may cause water pollution which is one of the negative impact to the
environment. Water pollution from construction waste may come from diesel and oil, paint,
solvents, cleaners and other harmful chemical. Besides that, water pollution may come from
the contamination of water mixed with debris and dirt. The surface water run-off carries all
these pollutants from site, such as diesel and oil, toxic chemicals and building material like
cement.

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 These substances, then will get into the waterways and may be poisonous to the water life
and to the animals that drink from it. In addition, pollutants from the construction sites can soak
into the groundwater that is far more difficult to treat than surface water.

2.2 ECONOMY

In term of economy, construction waste has a negative economic impact by

contributing additional cost to construction due to the need to replace the wasted materials.
This is due to the costs of rework, delays and disposal that cause financial losses to the
contractor.

Besides that, cost overrun issues is becoming widespread in Malaysia and led to
abandonment in many projects. For example, Ministry of Housing and Local Government has
reported that 35 projects involving 12,000 unit of houses in Malaysia have been abandoned
due to the poor financial management.

Other than that, construction waste may affect the economy due to the reduction in
environmental resources and energy usage, international reputation and effect on the tourism.

2.3 SOCIAL

Construction waste cause social impacts such as health and safety of workers and
societal image of the construction industry. For health, it may increase the risk of severe health
implication due to the contamination and pollution resulted from the increase of construction
waste.

For example, the contamination of air may cause lung and heart disease respectively.
Yu et al. (2013), stated that in Hong Kong, the disposal of construction waste has become a
social problem due to shortages of landfill spaces.

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3.0 CASE STUDY

In order to have clear pictures on emerging and sustainable issues, two case study had been
chosen and presented. First case study on Sustainable Construction Waste Management in
Australia: A Motivation Perspective by Rita Yi Man Li and Huibin Du (2015) and the second
case study is Sustainable Construction Waste Management Strategic Implementation Model
by Jannatun Naemah Ismam and Zulhabri Ismail (2014).

3.1 CASE STUDY 1: Sustainable Construction Waste Management in Australia: A

Motivation Perspective

This study was made to study on the idea of sustainable construction waste from the
whole building cycle perspective instead of construction and demolition stage alone, reviews
regarding the construction companies, contractors, government sectors and material
manufacturer’s sustainability issues in Australia’s construction industry, social and
environment perspective and lastly to know the motivation of these companies for sustainable
construction waste management.

Australian government has initiated solutions in order to reduce waste. For example,
Australian Capital Territory’s government supports construction demolition waste on-site
reuse (ACT Government 2012). In South Australia, the government has produced the Draft
South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2010 – 2015 in order to ensure the goal of zero waste. This
Draft offer guidelines for waste avoidance, recycling and waste in order to maximize the value
of resources and to reduce and avoid waste generation. Zero Waste International Alliance has
stated that zero waste is a product and process design and management by which it avoid
and eliminate waste materials to conserve and recover all the resources. The concept of zero
waste includes variety of concept that has been developer for sustainable waste management
systems such as avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, treat and dispose.

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 Figure 1.0: Action to achieve zero waste

However, there are several challenges that may cause difficulty in realising zero waste.
Example of the challenges are:
1. Producer and consumer may think that the cost of dumping to landfill is cheaper
than reuse and recycling (short term thinking)
2. Inconsistency of legislation across the states causing loophole to waste
generators to dump waste from one city to another. For example, landfill is
charge in city A but not in city B, so the waste generators may transport all the
waste to city B.
3. Cheapest contractor’s tender successfully bid for construction projects. The
cheap price may related to lack of willingness to pay for the waste management
strategies as this may incur extra costs.
Table below shows the strategies used in order to achieve the goal of reduce, reuse,
recycle, waste avoidance, treat and dispose in a sustainable manner. (Lehmann et al., 2013)

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 Table 2.0: Strategies used to achieve the goal of reduce, reuse, recycle, avoid waste
production, treat and dispose the waste in a sustainable manner

In this studies, it is stated that we should view the issue from the whole building life
perspective such as:-

1. Wrong inception that lead to unnecessary demolition during construction stage.

2. Poor design that lack of future foresight that lead to premature demolition or
renovation in occupancy stage.
3. A poor and weak construction waste management. For example, communication
breakdown between workers may lead to excessive offcuts during construction
phase.
4. Poor building usage that bring an early end to building.
5. Poor demolition plan and work that lead to insufficient waste to be reused in future.

In this studies, content analysis is used. This technique includes interpretations of the
content where similar information is categorised in different groups according to the meaning
of the content to create systematic and objective criteria in analysing symbolic content of the
documents. For motivations for sustainable zero waste construction waste management, there
are many types of punishment and rewards that may enhance the worker’s awareness in 3R
(reuse, recycle and reduce). For positive strategies, it is suggested that reward schemes are
used to motivate construction workers in waste reduction.

From the incentive theory perspective, New South Wales, the government’s section 88
Landfill Levy charges are applicable to regulated areas. This motivates the industry
manufacturers and contractors to reuse and recycle more materials in the construction
industry.

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 For goal’s self-satisfaction and fulfilment, the Australian Ethical Investment reuse high
proportions of materials used as possible to reach the goal of receiving six stars in GBCA’s
Green Star rating tools. Besides that, Ontera Modular Carpets set it goal to receive ISO 14001
so they collects and reuses tonnes of used carpet.

This studies has categorised the 15 case studies from Edge Environment Pty Ltd
according to types of sustainable construction management activities, the three major criteria
in sustainable development and motivation to engage in sustainable construction waste
management activities.
The results of the case studies in Australia on the possibility of co-development in
social, economic and environmental aspect in construction projects and material of production
companies that aim to reduce construction waste, founds that it can attain the win-win
situation.
From the economic point of view, sustainable zero waste activity does not really leads
to high cost. Besides, some of the evidence shows that the sustainable action may lead to
higher economic profits due to home-buyers prefer to purchase houses from builders that use
product with low environmental impact.
In term of social perspective, it may enhance the public health and safety. For example
PIPA recycling scheme recycles PVC and reduces the PVC in landfill site and this lower the
health risk of the potential PVC fire in landfill. Besides that, sustainable building activities may
help to achieve corporate social responsibility (CSR).
From the environment perspective, it may reduce the landfill pressure.
As a conclusion, many state government in Australia have initiated different strategies
to reduce construction waste. It is suggested that sustainable construction waste management
for example, co-development in economic, social and environment was feasible in many case
studies despite a few experienced and increase in construction costs.

3.2 CASE STUDY 2: Sustainable Construction Waste Management Strategic

Implementation Model

Due to the recommendation from previous study, Policy maker are suggested to
execute waste strategy implementation model to clearly indicate the actual flow of waste
handling in the construction industry in order assist in accelerating the process towards the
sustainable development. The existence of the strategic model in developing countries is also
assisting in meeting the criteria of sustainable construction. Therefore, the purpose of the
study is to overview the waste management strategy being implemented in the United

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Kingdom, China and Singapore in order to identify the main component that shall be
considered to enhance the quality of waste management in the construction industry.

A. United Kingdom

Due to the statistic of waste produced in the UK, it is about 335 million tonnes of waste
and 220 million tonnes consists of construction and demolition wastes (CIPS, 2007). The
deduction of waste generation is perceived through the statistic issued by the UK Government,
construction and demolition waste generated in the UK is estimated at 120 million tonnes per
annum and 13 million tonnes of unused material (Osmani, 2012). Combination of waste
management regulation, economic instruments and voluntary agreements, one of the
strategies has been implemented by government to reduce the waste generation as well as to
achieve targets of ethical, social and environmental performance in driving the waste
management agenda (Mega, 2010). Furthermore, the introduction of new legislation is also
supported by the existence of new technologies and practices in both waste disposal and
recovery plus the increasing of public awareness which all uniting to deal with the waste
management (Hwang et. al., 2010). Seen that, the UK government is proactively contribute
towards waste management since it contributes to the adverse effects of climate change and
being one of the top issues nowadays (Abanda et. al., 2010).

Refer to Shiers (2013), Her Majesty’s Government’s Annual Report, United Kingdom,
session 2010-2013, The Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP) constitute of the regulations
were made law under Section 54 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act. The act
is described that the site waste management plan should be prepared by both the client and
main contractor of the project worth at least 300,000€ (Abanda et. al., 2010). Additional, the
United Kingdom (UK) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) also has
published a paper entitled "Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011" which has
outlined the action should be done to achieve "zero waste economy" (Hou et. al., 2012).
Aligned with the goal, the strategy calls as “zero construction waste to landfill by 2020” is also
being implemented in the construction industry as a means to reach the target (CIPS, 2017).

Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has introduced a waste

management framework based on eight key areas as shown in Figure 2.0 that should be taken
into consideration in construction activities from start until project completion (WRAP, 2012).
This key area is viewed a holistic process of waste management and stakeholder roles in
handling the waste management.

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 Figure 2.0: Waste management framework based on eight key areas

The step taken by the UK government to initiate better waste management in

construction and demolition sector is creditable. The good thing is some of the developed
countries is starting to use this approach to tackle environmental issues and reduce the burden
on natural resources (Bhagwat, 2008). It shows that all the approaches are viable to be
successfully implemented and accepted widely.

B. China

In China, the government is taking some action to tackle the waste problem by
establishing a policy, requiring the preparation of waste management plans for all stakeholders
of the project (Poon et. al., 2004). According to Ben (2013), the trip ticket system also
introduced as government approach to control waste transfer for public work contracts and it
is a form detailing the waste load for disposal that shall be filled by the contractors. The
purpose of the system is to ensure the contractors will properly dispose the construction waste
through tracking its destination as well as complying with the government policy (Lu and Yuan,
2012).

Furthermore, through the recent technologies and intensive research conducted in

China, Recycled Aggregate is accepted as a sustainable building construction material (Lu
and Yuan, 2012). Additional, China’s government also allows the use of recycled aggregates
derived from construction waste for use in government projects (Jaillon et. al., 2009).

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Research by Guo and Sun (2009) who cited from Zhang (2002) and Poon (2006) where the
utilization of recycled aggregate in road engineering is one of effective ways to deal with
construction waste. Afterward, the recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) derived from concrete
wastes is growing interest (Salam et. al., 2011).

Since the China’s Government bodies is strictly to minimize the amount of C&D waste
entering Landfills, the “Polluter Pays Principle” has introduced by the China’s government
which enacted under environmental law (Yu et. al., 2013). According to Cordato (2001), the
“Polluter Pays Principle” defined as whoever is responsible for damage to the environment
should bear the costs associated with it. Similarly, to other developed countries, the hierarchy
of waste management is emphasizing on reduce, recycle and reuse the waste and it is said to
be the best approach in China (Lam et. al., 2005). Regarding limited landfill space and costly,
the policy makers in China and waste producers are entitled to do something to avoid the
waste from landfills (Shelbourn et. al., 2006). However, there will still be a substantial amount
of construction materials that require disposal, either at public fill reception facilities or at
landfills (Duran et. al., 2006). Hence, “A Policy Framework for the Management of Municipal
Solid Waste (2005-2014)” has established by the government (Environmental Protecting
Department, 2012).

In the context of construction and demolition waste management, there are few
numbers of strategic model has been proposed by researchers and journalist in China.
According to (Lu and Yuan, 2011), the construction project life cycle is the corner stone to
predict the possibility of waste production especially during the construction stage,
maintenance stage and demolition stage. It is supported by Zou et. al. (2006), effective
management of any future risks would be possible if these risks are managed from the
perspective of a project life cycle as well as allowed all parties involved making appropriate
actions to cope with them. In addition, Lu and Yuan (2011) point out, the waste material life
cycle, “reuse’, “recycle” and “disposal” are also the significant stage should be looked. In a
way towards sustainable construction, adequate information is necessary to enable
contractors considers the most environmentally friendly materials to be used, recycled and
disposed. Therefore, the holistic observation towards the process of the construction project
life cycle should be monitored systematically by the construction team at an early stage of the
project since it is important as a guideline to predict the production of waste.

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C. Singapore

Singapore is an Asian country constitutes a citystate with one of the highest per capita
incomes in the world. However, waste management is an obstacle in attaining rapid
development in Singapore (Siddiqui, 2010). The depletion of natural resources and
government encouraging towards green buildings are driving stakeholders comes out with
other alternative in obtaining building materials (Marusiak, 2012). Therefore, to prevent the
increasing of waste issues, the Building Construction Authority (BCA) drawn up an ISO 14000
Certification Scheme as a surveillance audit for construction firms towards environmental
performance (Tan and Khoo, 2006). Besides that, since limited land faces which is only 682
square kilometres, Singapore aim for “zero landfill” which attempt to minimize the amount of
waste generated and recycling as much as is feasible. It can be perceived through the
Singapore Green Plan (SGP) 2012 execution which listed out the targets and aims of the zero
landfill (Proverb and Wang, 2012).

Another, in attaining to sustainability concept, Singapore’s industry is trying to develop

some industries that can develop products from recyclable waste, consume less natural
resources and increase the reusability of such materials and products for the same or similar
purpose (Chew, 2010). In addition, while an efficient system for waste collection and disposal
is critical in Singapore, The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also called for plans,
develops and manages Singapore’s advanced waste management system (National
Environment Agency, 2011). Refer to The National Environment Agency in Singapore, there
are four dimensions were emphasized regarding on waste management strategy as shown in
Figure 2 below.

Figure 3.0: Waste management strategy

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 It is recognized that this agenda seems parallel to the government implementation in
the UK which aim of sustainability for the next few decades. The fundamental of waste
management strategy (reduce, reuse and recycle) mainly corresponding with other developed
countries. Conversely, Tan and Khoo (2006) opine that the waste management adopted by
various countries are different and it is supposed to be influenced by several factors such as
geographical area, population density, transportation infrastructure and environmental
regulation. Therefore, clarified that the implementation of waste management in developed
countries is various but the basis of 3R principles is perceived as main pillars in dealing with
waste creation.

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4.0 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Since the construction waste is the major obstacle in attaining sustainable

construction, the government in developed countries keeps on striving to develop and
generate idea to overcome the issues of construction waste. The strategic framework model
for construction waste management is used to enhance the efficiency of waste management
among all stakeholders. In other hence, an improvement of waste management strategy
should be periodically done since the issues of limited landfills faces by some of the developed
countries becomes crucial.

The strategic implementation of the waste management in construction industry

supposed to be commenced by the government body which is main pillar in formulating a
strategic plan. Refer to Figure 4.0, the conceptual framework for strategic planning of
construction waste management emphasizes few aspects that the government could use in
ensuring the successful implementation of construction waste management. It is namely
regulation, policy, technology and guideline. These four measures are used to ensure the 3R
strategy being implemented efficiently.

Moreover, from the comparative analyses, it is identified that the fundamental of the
waste management still based on the three principles which are reduce, reuse and recycle in
achieving sustainability. However, it is recognized that the principles of waste in developed
countries being evolved by adding the ‘disposal’ at the end of the stage. Therefore, from the
conceptual framework indicates that less waste to dispose and more reuse and recycle of
waste should be done. It is based on the comparative analysis of the developed countries
which mainly emphasized in reducing waste disposal to landfill due to the limited landfill.

Figure 4.0: The conceptual framework for strategic planning of construction waste
management

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5.0 CONCLUSION

In a way forward in sustainable construction, the obstacle for the government to deal
with rapid development especially in construction that continuously comes out with the issues
related to the environment. Government is called as main pillars endeavor to cut off the serious
issues of waste that arise during construction. The research is developed the four measures
that should use by government to encourage and guide the stakeholders in dealing with waste.
The strategic waste management that recognized from developed countries is seems to be
the strategic formulation planning for any developing countries.

While allowing the development growth, it is important for government formulate the
strategic planning of waste management based on these four measures to facilitate all
stakeholders identified how strategic action could be made in dealing to the waste created in
different stage of the construction industry. Otherwise is to standardize the waste management
in the construction industry.

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