Quantification of Material Waste in Building Construction Industry and its Impact on Cost

Abstract

Construction industry has a significant impact on the economy and environment. It contributes to the provision of infrastructure, buildings, jobs and much more. But it has negative impacts in the form of poor reputation of environmental and economic performance. One significant factor contributing to this dismal state is generation of material waste in construction activities. Globally, various studies have attempted to measure the magnitude of this waste through qualitative and quantitative methods, and developed management strategies to reduce waste and enhance the overall performance. This paper presents a quantitative study of material waste in the construction industry of Pakistan by using primary data collected from 40 completed building projects. It is found that the highest wasteful materials are wood, sand and bricks. Interestingly, they are both the costliest (wood) as well as cheapest (sand) of all. Also, waste generation due to various subcontracting arrangements are investigated to reveal that the labor-only configuration results into maximum waste. Despite a lower appeal on upfront cost, sustainability implications are discussed. Also, the best practices applied by construction organizations generating lower amount of waste are synthesized and discussed in order to provide practicable strategies to industry professionals in the form of a waste management plan. This is the first of its nature study in the context of local construction industry and recommends to continue gathering vast amounts of waste data which can help benchmark the national practices along with implementing best practices to improve the economic and environmental performance of the construction industry.