Construction Waste Management Case Study

Paying attention on the sectors which consume major portion of natural resources, construction can be put as number one in the world. Therefore, the need for effective construction waste management is growing in importance, with the increasing generation of construction waste and to its adverse impacts on the environment (Freitas & Magrini, 2017). Furthermore, construction activities consume a large quantity of materials and energy as well as generating unacceptable level of solid waste. Accordingly, energy- demanding manufactures materials such as steel, copper, glass, iron, synthetic materials and cement, construction is identified as the largest consumptions materials from the natural products. The construction industry consumes 25% of virgin

Construction waste management by definition is to eliminate the waste material if there is no other options, to recycle the waste material in the case of being feasible, and to reuse the material which would become waste if they are not reused. The main objective of construction waste management is to apply these solutions where possible. This is called the 3R Concept in construction waste management. This was the G8 Action Plan on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development. This action planed and the progress of Implementation were adopted during the G8 Sea Island Summit in USA in 2004. The 3R Initiative was formally launched at a Ministerial Conference in Tokyo, Japan. This concept also called as the waste management hierarchy and it can reduce the carbon footprint of the world of construction in reasonable manner. (Weisleder, Simona, Nasseri,

The lack of data about managing and minimizing construction materials waste composition and quantities is a major factor, which has introverted the development of waste management in Sri Lanka. Now a days Sri Lankan construction industries are booming due to implementing major infrastructure projects together with many public buildings, commercial building and housing development programmes. However, construction materials waste is becoming a serious problem in Sri Lanka. Construction managers often fail to identify and control waste in the construction process, because the absence of appropriate tools to measure waste. In the present situation, the contractors and the design consultants are mainly concerned on how to control cost without any emphasis on waste control measures. Generally, it is accepted that cost of materials accounted for a great percentage of the total cost of construction projects. Therefore, a critical control of materials on site together with good construction management is expected to decrease the cost of construction projects. Materials wastage on site cannot be treated fully without good construction management. In fact, material waste level on site is a measure of site management.
The practice of construction waste management plan according to 3R concept is still in experimental stage in most of