Waste has been identified as a significant issue in the construction industry, generating around one-third of all waste. Construction waste contributes the most quantity to landfills and consumes a substantial amount of natural resources. Waste impacts not only the efficiency of the construction industry but also the entire national economy. As a result, efforts continue to eliminate waste in the first place as it has the highest priority in the waste hierarchy. The Designing out Waste (DoW) approach can be used to prevent construction waste at the early stage of the project. DoW principles can be implemented during the design phase to reduce waste throughout the execution, operation, and demolition phases. However, DoW principles have not been widely applied in the Australian construction industry. This gap could be attributed to the lack of an appropriate framework for practitioners to follow. Based on a systematic literature review, this study identified 34 factors distributed as indicators, enablers and barriers to DoW in construction projects. To examine these factors, a questionnaire survey was conducted targeting construction practitioners in Australia. Seventy-six respondents completed the survey satisfactorily. The result of this study indicated the need to adopt some international guidelines for waste management and DoW, including ISO 14001 and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), to implement the DoW. The study found some barriers to implementing DoW, including a lack of imposing the DoW in the contract, lack of experience in DoW, changes in the design process, project constraints, and the client's lack of interest. On the other hand, finance incentives formed the top enabler for implementing DoW in Australia. Besides, legislation and regulations, appropriate material selection or alternative products, education and training in DoW, good communication and coordination and using Building Information Modelling (BIM) were highlighted as essential enablers to implementing the DoW in construction. This study concluded with a set of recommendations and proposed a framework to facilitate the implementation of DoW considering the indicators, barriers and enablers identified in this research. By using the strategies proposed in the study, a bunch of construction waste can be reduced on construction projects.
Date of Award | 2022 |
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Original language | English |
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- construction industry
- waste minimization
- Australia
Developing a framework for the implementation of Designing out Waste in construction projects in Australia
Hassan, N. M. (Author). 2022
Western Sydney University thesis: Master's thesis