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From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Colin M. Rose

    (Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, Centre for Urban Sustainability and Resilience, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK)

  • Julia A. Stegemann

    (Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, Centre for Resource Efficiency & the Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK)

Abstract

The construction industry uses more resources and produces more waste than any other industrial sector; sustainable development depends on the reduction of both, while providing for a growing global population. The reuse of existing building components could support this goal. However, it is difficult to reclaim components from demolition, and materials remain cheap compared with labour, so new approaches are needed for reuse to be implemented beyond niche projects. This study therefore reviews waste interventions. Multiple case studies, spanning new builds and refurbishment, were undertaken to examine systemic mechanisms that lead to components being discarded. Evidence from fieldwork observations, waste documentation, and interviews indicates that the generators of unwanted components effectively decide their fate, and a failure to identify components in advance, uncertainty over usefulness, the perception of cost and programme risk in reclamation, and the preferential order of the waste hierarchy mean that the decision to discard to waste management goes unchallenged. A triage process is proposed to capture timely information about existing building components to be discarded, make this information visible to a wide community, and determine usefulness by focusing creativity already present in the industry on an exhaustive examination of component reusability and upcyclability.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin M. Rose & Julia A. Stegemann, 2018. "From Waste Management to Component Management in the Construction Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:1:p:229-:d:127397
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Rosaria E.C. Amaral & Joel Brito & Matt Buckman & Elicia Drake & Esther Ilatova & Paige Rice & Carlos Sabbagh & Sergei Voronkin & Yewande S. Abraham, 2020. "Waste Management and Operational Energy for Sustainable Buildings: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Rabia Charef & Jean-Claude Morel & Kambiz Rakhshan, 2021. "Barriers to Implementing the Circular Economy in the Construction Industry: A Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-18, November.
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    5. Nicole Anderson & Gayan Wedawatta & Ishara Rathnayake & Niluka Domingo & Zahirah Azizi, 2022. "Embodied Energy Consumption in the Residential Sector: A Case Study of Affordable Housing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Ke Xing & Ki Pyung Kim & David Ness, 2020. "Cloud-BIM Enabled Cyber-Physical Data and Service Platforms for Building Component Reuse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Arghavan Akbarieh & Laddu Bhagya Jayasinghe & Danièle Waldmann & Felix Norman Teferle, 2020. "BIM-Based End-of-Lifecycle Decision Making and Digital Deconstruction: Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-29, March.
    8. Qilun Li & Zhaoyi Xu & Xiaoqin Shen & Jiacheng Zhong, 2022. "Predicting Business Risks of Commercial Banks Based on BP-GA Optimized Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 59(4), pages 1423-1441, April.
    9. Colin M. Rose & Dan Bergsagel & Thibault Dufresne & Evi Unubreme & Tianyao Lyu & Philippe Duffour & Julia A. Stegemann, 2018. "Cross-Laminated Secondary Timber: Experimental Testing and Modelling the Effect of Defects and Reduced Feedstock Properties," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Jesus Javier Losada-Maseda & Laura Castro-Santos & Manuel Ángel Graña-López & Ana Isabel García-Diez & Almudena Filgueira-Vizoso, 2020. "Analysis of Contracts to Build Energy Infrastructures to Optimize the OPEX," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, September.
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