Barriers and Way Forward to Construction Waste Minimization Practices: A Step towards Circular Economy

Abstract

Construction industry is expanding rapidly to address the immense need of infrastructure and development projects. However, this expansion generates millions of tons of waste throughout the execution of these projects, with half of this waste originating from building projects. These high waste generation rates demand a detailed investigation into the root causes and way forward to overcome it. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying the barriers to waste minimization (WM) practices and providing strategies to mitigate them to promote circular economy (CE) culture. In this regard, a detailed review process determined forty (40) barriers from previous studies and frequency analysis subsequently shortlisted top thirteen (13) barriers. After a pilot survey from field experts, a questionnaire was formulated and data was collected from thirty (30) field experts. Then severity index identified the root cause barriers. It is found that non-availability of rules & regulations (B1), financial issues (B2), lack of legal enforcement (B4), and poor construction practices (B8) are major barriers in adoption of WM and CE culture. Subsequently, a theoretical way forward was provided which mainly include efforts at macro as well as micro levels. Findings of current study will be helpful for policy makers.