Investigating current construction waste management practices in South Australia: a preliminary study

Abstract

The construction industry has been found to be a major generator of waste and the management of construction waste has become a pressing challenge. Due to persisting beliefs that construction waste generation is unavoidable and zero waste is not achievable, researchers have proposed different methods of waste management such as sustainable waste management, integrated waste management, holistic waste management and the waste management hierarchy during past decades. However, when it comes to the Australian context, construction and demolition waste contributes around 25.8% of overall landfill. Therefore, this research aims to identify current construction waste management practices in South Australia in order to find ways to improve them. Sixteen face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted covering major stakeholders in construction projects who had a minimum of ten years’ experience in the construction industry and a minimum five years’ experience in waste management. The findings reveal that while industry is going through a transition with regards to waste management, waste management practices vary from organisation to organisation. Site space was described as the main limiting factor to implementing onsite waste management practices and it was suggested that waste management should be an important part of project planning. Interviewees indicated that even though there are programmes like Green Star which aim to encourage recycling and waste minimisation; waste management was neglected in the design process. Findings also reveal the urgency of changing attitudes and behaviours towards waste and the importance of considering waste as a resource to encourage improvements in waste management practices. Issues associated with costs and financial management were highlighted as key in determining waste management practices. As such the findings of the study also point to the importance of considering systemic issues of political economy and how they impact on waste management practices.