Evaluating the effectiveness of construction and demolition waste management strategies

Abstract

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste management, as an important aspect of sustainable development, has become a hot research topic. Many researchers and organizations have been conducting related research in recent years, and have proposed several waste management strategies on both regional level and project level. However, what are the most effective strategies have not been investigated. To fill up this research gap, this study firstly conducted a thorough literature review to summarize the existing C&D waste management strategies. Then, a questionnaire survey was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies according to the practical experiences of construction practitioners. The results show that the practitioners regard the current C&D waste management is not applied well. And four most effective C&D waste management strategies are examined, namely "effective on-site management", "establishment of competitive recycling market", "issuance of incentive policies", and "reasonable and proper design". © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.