IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i1p229-d127397.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/229/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/229/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Lacy & Jakob Rutqvist, 2015. "Waste to Wealth," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-53070-7, October.
    2. Marek Antosiewicz & Piotr Lewandowski & Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks, 2016. "Input vs. Output Taxation—A DSGE Approach to Modelling Resource Decoupling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Arnold Tukker & Bart Jansen, 2006. "Environmental Impacts of Products: A Detailed Review of Studies," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 10(3), pages 159-182, July.
    4. Geels, Frank W., 2002. "Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1257-1274, December.
    5. Willi Haas & Fridolin Krausmann & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Markus Heinz, 2015. "How Circular is the Global Economy?: An Assessment of Material Flows, Waste Production, and Recycling in the European Union and the World in 2005," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(5), pages 765-777, October.
    6. Marek Antosiewicz & Piotr Lewandowski & Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks, 2016. "Input vs. Output Taxation—A DSGE Approach to Modelling Resource Decoupling," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Nixon, P. J., 1976. "The use of materials from demolition in construction," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 276-283, December.
    8. Allwood, Julian M. & Ashby, Michael F. & Gutowski, Timothy G. & Worrell, Ernst, 2011. "Material efficiency: A white paper," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 362-381.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mhatre, Purva & Gedam, Vidyadhar V. & Unnikrishnan, Seema, 2021. "Material circularity potential for construction materials – The case of transportation infrastructure in India," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Wenqin Gong & Yu Kong, 2022. "Nonlinear Influence of Chinese Real Estate Development on Environmental Pollution: New Evidence from Spatial Econometric Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-22, January.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Savindi Caldera & Tim Ryley & Nikita Zatyko, 2020. "Enablers and Barriers for Creating a Marketplace for Construction and Demolition Waste: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anne P. M. Velenturf, 2021. "A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-41, September.
    2. Chan, Ying Tung & Zhao, Hong, 2023. "Optimal carbon tax rates in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with a supply chain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Ernst, Anne & Stähler, Nikolai & Hinterlang, Natascha, 2023. "Climate Clubbing, Trade and the Natural Interest Rate," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277631, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Mariale Moreno & Carolina De los Rios & Zoe Rowe & Fiona Charnley, 2016. "A Conceptual Framework for Circular Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-15, September.
    5. Doreen Fedrigo-Fazio & Jean-Pierre Schweitzer & Patrick Ten Brink & Leonardo Mazza & Alison Ratliff & Emma Watkins, 2016. "Evidence of Absolute Decoupling from Real World Policy Mixes in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-22, May.
    6. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    7. Lucas Becerra & Sebastián Carenzo & Paula Juarez, 2020. "When Circular Economy Meets Inclusive Development. Insights from Urban Recycling and Rural Water Access in Argentina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Hinterlang, Natascha & Martin, Anika & Röhe, Oke & Stähler, Nikolai & Strobel, Johannes, 2022. "Using energy and emissions taxation to finance labor tax reductions in a multi-sector economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Fehrer, Julia A. & Wieland, Heiko, 2021. "A systemic logic for circular business models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 609-620.
    10. Roberta Angelis, 2022. "Circular Economy Business Models: a Repertoire of Theoretical Relationships and a Research Agenda," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 433-446, June.
    11. Yevgeniya Arushanyan & Anna Björklund & Ola Eriksson & Göran Finnveden & Maria Ljunggren Söderman & Jan-Olov Sundqvist & Åsa Stenmarck, 2017. "Environmental Assessment of Possible Future Waste Management Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-27, February.
    12. Dongxue Wang & Yugang He, 2024. "The Mathematical Simulation of South Korea’s Financial and Economic Impacts from Real Estate Bubbles: Lessons from the China Evergrande Collapse," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Chan, Ying Tung, 2020. "Optimal emissions tax rates under habit formation and social comparisons," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Marvin Henry & Julian Kirchherr & Rob Raven & Marko Hekkert, 2024. "Bottom‐up dynamics in circular innovation systems: The perspective of circular start‐ups," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(2), pages 320-338, April.
    15. Antosiewicz, Marek & Fuentes, J. Rodrigo & Lewandowski, Piotr & Witajewski-Baltvilks, Jan, 2022. "Distributional effects of emission pricing in a carbon-intensive economy: The case of Poland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    16. Christis, Maarten & Geerken, Theo & Vercalsteren, An & Vrancken, Karl C., 2015. "Value in sustainable materials management strategies for open economies case of Flanders (Belgium)," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 110-124.
    17. Helbig, Christoph & Bradshaw, Alex M. & Kolotzek, Christoph & Thorenz, Andrea & Tuma, Axel, 2016. "Supply risks associated with CdTe and CIGS thin-film photovoltaics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 422-433.
    18. Ying Tung Chan, 2019. "Optimal Environmental Tax Rate in an Open Economy with Labor Migration—An E-DSGE Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-38, September.
    19. Owais Khan & Tiberio Daddi & Fabio Iraldo, 2020. "Microfoundations of dynamic capabilities: Insights from circular economy business cases," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1479-1493, March.
    20. Michał Antoszewski, 2020. "Macroeconomic, Sectoral and Fiscal Consequences of Decreasing Energy Intensity in the Polish Economy," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 53-81.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:1:p:229-:d:127397. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.