Managing barriers affecting to implement sustainable construction wood waste management in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The increasing use of wood in the construction industry in developing countries has led to significant environmental, economic, and health related challenges, thereby highlighting the need for sustainable construction wood waste management. In developing countries, sustainable construction wood waste management cannot be implemented effectively due to different barriers such as financial barriers, technical barriers, knowledge barriers, institutional barriers, and socio-cultural barriers. This study aimed to identify and address the key barriers to implementing sustainable construction wood waste management in Sri Lanka and to propose suitable strategies for overcoming these challenges. The study used a qualitative approach, and the required data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings were revealed that three main conventional practices used in Sri Lankan construction industry to manage wood waste such as open dumping, landfilling, and incineration, whereas there are few sustainable practices also used in Sri Lankan construction industry to manage wood waste based on the findings such as recycling, reuse, use as by-product, and use for energy recovering. Overall applicability of sustainable practices to manage construction wood waste is very low rate in Sri Lanka due to existing barriers as financial barriers, technical barriers, knowledge barriers, institutional barriers, and socio-cultural barriers. The study findings revealed five barriers in Sri Lanka under each type of barrier, except socio-cultural barriers. Financial barrier is identified as a major barrier affecting to implementation of sustainable construction wood waste management in Sri Lanka, and it leads to the emergence of other types of barriers. Therefore, this study proposed suitable effective strategies to manage each type of barrier affecting to implementation of sustainable construction wood waste management in Sri Lanka.