IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i9p4129-d1648468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enablers and Policy Framework for Construction Waste Minimization Under Circular Economy: Stakeholder Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Usman Shahid

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 45750, Pakistan)

  • Majid Ali

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 45750, Pakistan)

Abstract

The expansion of the construction sector in order to meet infrastructure demands is generating millions of tons of solid waste. This waste threatens resource sustainability and increases environmental challenges. Adopting a circular economy (CE) through waste minimization (WM) offers a solution, but policy guidelines are very limited in developing countries, especially in the context of Pakistan. The global body of knowledge lacks a comparative analysis of the influence of the perception of stakeholders when developing such guidelines. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to identify enablers for the development of a policy framework and to provide a comparative analysis of the perception of stakeholders. In this regard, Saunders’s research onion model and purposive sampling methods were used for the selection of research variables and respondents, respectively. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis, including word frequency and cluster analyses using the NVivo 15 software, was performed. The key findings indicated an 80% agreement and a 60% disagreement among consultant–contractor and contractor–regulator relationships, respectively. Overall, financial support (14.6%) and awareness programs (11.2%) at the macro level, the use of BIM (5%), the clarity of specifications (4.1%), the segregation of onsite waste (2%), and the adoption of reuse and recycling practices (2%) at the micro level were found to be major policy measures. This study concludes with practical implications for sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Usman Shahid & Majid Ali, 2025. "Enablers and Policy Framework for Construction Waste Minimization Under Circular Economy: Stakeholder Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-26, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4129-:d:1648468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4129/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4129/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roope Husgafvel & Daishi Sakaguchi, 2021. "Circular Economy Development in the Construction Sector in Japan," World, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Musa Mohammed & Nasir Shafiq & Al-Baraa Abdulrahman Al-Mekhlafi & Amin Al-Fakih & Noor Amila Zawawi & Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed & Rana Khallaf & Hussein Mohammed Abualrejal & Abdulkadir Adamu Shehu &, 2022. "Beneficial Effects of 3D BIM for Pre-Empting Waste during the Planning and Design Stage of Building and Waste Reduction Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Hossain, Md. Uzzal & Ng, S. Thomas & Antwi-Afari, Prince & Amor, Ben, 2020. "Circular economy and the construction industry: Existing trends, challenges and prospective framework for sustainable construction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    4. T. Mahanth & C. R. Suryasekaran & S. G. Ponnambalam & Bathrinath Sankaranarayanan & Koppiahraj Karuppiah & Izabela Ewa Nielsen, 2023. "Modelling the Barriers to Circular Economy Practices in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu in Managing E-Wastes to Achieve Green Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Stefan Schützenhofer & Iva Kovacic & Helmut Rechberger & Stephanie Mack, 2022. "Improvement of Environmental Sustainability and Circular Economy through Construction Waste Management for Material Reuse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Begum, Rawshan Ara & Siwar, Chamhuri & Pereira, Joy Jacqueline & Jaafar, Abdul Hamid, 2006. "A benefit–cost analysis on the economic feasibility of construction waste minimisation: The case of Malaysia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 86-98.
    7. John A. Mathews & Hao Tan, 2016. "Circular economy: Lessons from China," Nature, Nature, vol. 531(7595), pages 440-442, March.
    8. Israt Jahan & Guomin Zhang & Muhammed Bhuiyan & Satheeskumar Navaratnam & Long Shi, 2022. "Experts’ Perceptions of the Management and Minimisation of Waste in the Australian Construction Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    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. Emma Heffernan & Leela Kempton, 2025. "Beyond Construction Waste Management: A Systematic Review of Strategies for the Avoidance and Minimisation of Construction and Demolition Waste in Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-23, August.

    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. Prin Boonkanit & Kridchai Suthiluck, 2023. "Developing a Decision-Making Support System for a Smart Construction and Demolition Waste Transition to a Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-27, June.
    2. Fangxin Li & Julian Pratama Putra Thedja & Sung-Han Sim & Joon-Oh Seo & Min-Koo Kim, 2023. "Range Image-Aided Edge Line Estimation for Dimensional Inspection of Precast Bridge Slab Using Point Cloud Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Noushin Islam & Malindu Sandanayake & Shobha Muthukumaran & Dimuth Navaratna, 2024. "Review on Sustainable Construction and Demolition Waste Management—Challenges and Research Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-30, April.
    4. John A. Mathews, 2020. "Schumpeterian economic dynamics of greening: propagation of green eco-platforms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 929-948, September.
    5. Hao Tan, 2017. "Making impact through industry-focused research: An Asia Pacific perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 487-503, September.
    6. S. G. Ponnambalam & Bathrinath Sankaranarayanan & Koppiahraj Karuppiah & Shakthi Thinakaran & Pranesh Chandravelu & Hon Loong Lam, 2023. "Analysing the Barriers Involved in Recycling the Textile Waste in India Using Fuzzy DEMATEL," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2022. "Leveraging Blockchain and Smart Contract Technologies to Overcome Circular Economy Implementation Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Le Thanh Ha, 2025. "Does Circularity Transformation Hinder Climate Risk? A New Insight from European Countries," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 2873-2899, August.
    9. Eduarda Fraga Olivo & Juliana Acordi & Morgana Nuernberg Sartor Faraco & Lisandro Simão & Manuel Joaquim Ribeiro & Élia Maria Raposo Fernandes & Jairo José Zocche & Fabiano Raupp-Pereira, 2025. "Systematic Selection of Waste from Run-of-Mine Coal Processing as Sustainable Raw Materials for Organo-Mineral Fertilizer Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-14, February.
    10. Nkechi McNeil-Ayuk & Ahmad Jrade, 2025. "Integrating Building Information Modeling and Life Cycle Assessment to Enhance the Decisions Related to Selecting Construction Methods at the Conceptual Design Stage of Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-28, March.
    11. Lachlan Curmi & Kumudu Kaushalya Weththasinghe & Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq, 2022. "Global Policy Review on Embodied Flows: Recommendations for Australian Construction Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, November.
    12. Hepburn, Cameron & Stern, Nicholas & Xie, Chunping & Zenghelis, Dimitri, 2023. "China's economic development in the new era: challenges and paths," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 124057, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Igor Ceratti Treptow & Jordana Marques Kneipp & Clandia Maffini Gomes & Isak Kruglianskas & Rodrigo Reis Favarin & Carlos María Fernandez-Jardón, 2022. "Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Value Creation in Construction Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    14. Roope Husgafvel & Daishi Sakaguchi, 2021. "Circular Economy Development in the Construction Sector in Japan," World, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-26, December.
    15. Daniel Ferrández & Manuel Álvarez & Pablo Saiz & Alicia Zaragoza, 2022. "Experimental Study with Plaster Mortars Made with Recycled Aggregate and Thermal Insulation Residues for Application in Building," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Roberto Cerchione & Francesco Colangelo & Ilenia Farina & Patrizia Ghisellini & Renato Passaro & Sergio Ulgiati, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Production within a Circular Economy Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Jurgita Raudeliuniene & Eva Trinkuniene & Aurelija Burinskiene & Raimonda Bubliene, 2025. "Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach COPRAS for Developing Sustainable Building Practices in the European Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-26, April.
    18. Inês Bourgeois & Alexandra Queirós & Joaquim Oliveira & Hugo Rodrigues & Romeu Vicente & Victor M. Ferreira, 2022. "Development of an Eco-Design Tool for a Circular Approach to Building Renovation Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
    19. Begum, Rawshan Ara & Siwar, Chamhuri & Pereira, Joy Jacqueline & Jaafar, Abdul Hamid, 2009. "Attitude and behavioral factors in waste management in the construction industry of Malaysia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 321-328.
    20. Ana Garcia-Bernabeu & Adolfo Hilario-Caballero & David Pla-Santamaria & Francisco Salas-Molina, 2020. "A Process Oriented MCDM Approach to Construct a Circular Economy Composite Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4129-:d:1648468. 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.