Circular economy knowledge management initiatives in the Australian construction and demolition waste management sector

Abstract

Circular Economy (CE) implementation has been identified as a key solution in addressing the issue of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste generation. However, the lack of CE knowledge among designers in the construction industry impedes CE uptake for C&D waste management. Although existing studies emphasise the importance of CE Knowledge Management (KM) as a key enabler to equip designers with CE knowledge to manage C&D waste, there remains limited research outlining the specific KM practices needed to achieve this in practice. Therefore, this study investigates the current CE KM initiatives in the Australian C&D waste management sector to understand the landscape of CE KM of designers. Nineteen semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with designers and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings indicate current CE KM initiatives to be fragmented and mainly focused on KM activities supporting knowledge sharing: primarily delivered through professional association courses, seminars, and workshops. This exposed a notable misalignment between knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition, revealing low knowledge acquisition by designers. The need for knowledge creation, evaluation, and documentation initiatives to support designers in the CE application is thus identified, whilst demonstrating that current initiatives are primarily reactive – generally emerging in response to regulatory requirements. These findings assist designers and policymakers in targeting improvements in the CE KM practices, addressing gaps, and leading to enhanced implementation of C&D waste management practices. By framing the CE KM landscape for Australian designers, this study contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 04 and 08.